Spotlight on...Christmas Trees!

Seen as the Gastaldi Elves spend an awful lot of December whizzing around Monaco delivering, decorating and dancing around Christmas trees, we thought we’d share a few little interesting festive tree facts!

• Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year round had a special meaning for people in the winter, and specifically around the winter solstice.

• In ancient times people hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows, many believing that they would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness!

• 1000 years ago in Northern Europe Christmas trees were hung upside down from chandeliers!

• The first documented use of a tree at Christmas was in the year 1510, in the town square of Riga, the capital of Latvia.

• Originally, candles were used to decorate Christmas trees (err, hello, fire hazard!) to represent the stars in the night sky.

• Nowadays, the finishing touch to the tree tends to be the ever so awkward to attach Star or Angle right on the top; originally this was a figure of the Baby Jesus.

• Every year, since 1947, the enormous tree in London’s Trafalgar square is given to the UK by the city of Oslo, Norway.

• The Pine takes on average 5 years to grow, the Spruce 7, and the Noble Fir 10.

• In Poland, spider webs are common Christmas tree decorations because according to legend, a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus! Creepy AND cute!

So there you have it, a little bit of festive trivia to impress your loved ones with this Christmas around the dinner table!