defestival1-2, Exercise 2: "The Christmas tree is a German invention"

Model answer (check the sources named):

1. Define the terms: what counts as a Christmas tree (a cut evergreen set up indoors at Christmas, and decorated), and what counts as "invention" (a dated act by a person, or a custom that grew).
2. Find the earliest written descriptions and note who wrote them, where and when. The Strasbourg account of 1605 and the guild and town records of the 1400s and 1500s are the usual starting points. Ask whether each describes Christmas or another festival.
3. Look for earlier or parallel customs elsewhere, such as evergreen branches at midwinter in other places, and note how well documented they are.
4. Trace the spread: Protestant Germany in the 1800s, then Britain and America. Note who popularised it (royal households, illustrated papers).
5. Read a historian of custom and note any claims of pagan origin and what evidence is given.

A careful sentence: "The earliest surviving descriptions of decorated indoor Christmas trees come from the Upper Rhine region in the 1500s and 1600s, and the custom spread from Germany in the 1800s; whether it counts as an invention depends on the definition, and claims of pagan origin are not well supported."