Matt Heath: Why do we love Christmas trees so much?

Last week British actor Richard E Grant posted a video of himself standing in his garden in a dressing gown with a manic smile on his face. The Withnail and I, Star Wars and Game of Thrones star looks around in a state of pure joy and says, “Christmas tree Saturday, Getting ours today and putting it up. Have a great day”. This 65-year-old star is ecstatic about shoving a tree in his house. It got me thinking. Why do we love Christmas trees so much? This year we erected two of them in our house. A huge one in the lounge and a cute little one downstairs. At night I’ll stop to watch the flashing lights in the dark for a few minutes before I go to bed. It’s so nostalgic and joyful it’s also a very weird thing to do. Why the hell do we want dead trees covered in tinsel rotting in our houses one month a year?

Apparently, the tradition started in Germany in the 16th century. People had been building pyramids of wood and decorating them in their houses at Christmas for a while. But around that time, devout Christians began bringing whole trees indoors. It was the German priest, author and seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation Martin Luther who first added lights. He was walking home one winter evening and saw some stars twinkling amongst the leaves of some evergreens. He wanted to recreate the look for his family at home so he wired a tree in the main room of their house with lighted candles. It looked great and the idea spread like wildfire. Soon everyone in Germany was doing it. Christmas fires also spread like wildfire as the candles would often light up the trees and with them whole houses. Nowadays the biggest risk from Christmas tree lights is the mental anguish which comes with untangling them every year. Do yourself a favour and wrap them up sensibly when the tree comes down. Your future self will thank you.

Our enjoyment of flashing lights in the dark likely evolved when our ancestors gathered around fires for warmth and safety. We relied on fire for protection and community. As a result, we feel great when we have lights on a tree and even better when they flash a bit like a fire. It has been suggested that flashing light is also much of the reason we like watching TV. It’s not the shows that initially get us in front of our screens, it’s the fire-like flashing. The entertainment is just icing on the cake.

That sweet pine odour is another huge reason why we love Christmas trees. Smell has a powerful connection with nostalgia due to its direct link to the emotional and memory centres of the brain. Those stinky pine needles immediately take us back to all the Christmases we have had in our lives. That’s why real trees are the best despite the inconvenience they create. There’s the 4000 vacuum cleaner-destroying needles spread right through your house when you’re allowed one in and then again when you try and dispose of it when you get back from holidays. This is where the Christmas tree song has got it all wrong. O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Thy leaves are so unchanging. That’s absolute rubbish they’ll change and go brown in a few days if you don’t put water in the bucket. The song should go. O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! You keep your shape when you’re thrown out.