That familiar festive feeling is in the air, which means the holidays are right around the corner! Families worldwide will be waking on Christmas Day to presents and half-eaten cookies in just a few short weeks. And since Christmastime is nearing closer, it’s about time we start making fresh baked goods, watching snow fall with cocoa in hand, dancing to classic holiday tunes, and putting up merry decorations.
Of course, when we think of Christmas, we think of a big, beautiful, full Christmas tree laden with tinsel and ornaments. The tree is the centerpiece of Christmas home décor. Yet it would feel incomplete without the most important addition: a tree-topper.
A tree-topper is that large ornament placed on the very top of a Christmas tree. Though no one knows precisely where they originated, their first recorded use was in Germany in the early 1600s, when baby Jesus tree-toppers capped household trees littered with gold-covered apples and gingerbread.
As time passed, angel toppers became popular in England during the 17th century, when Europeans began creating bigger glass angel ornaments. Early on, star toppers gained popularity as well. They represent the Star of Bethlehem, and people continue to purchase stars of all shapes and sizes to crown their trees today. Hundreds of years after they first crowned Christmas trees, stars are now the most popular tree-topper.
Hundreds of years later, tree-toppers are still used in most Christmas-celebrating households. However, choices for these large decorative ornaments have now expanded far beyond stars and angels!
Though many traditional ornate toppers still exist, many people opt for more unique toppers today. From pop culture-inspired figurines to quirky statuettes, these toppers can range from unique to straight-up funny! Toppers have certainly come a long way. Nowadays, people who enjoy a non-traditional Christmas tree can still crown it with something personal to them.
Whether you prefer a star or King Kong at the top of your tree, have a merry Christmas! And if you’re looking for a unique final touch to your decorated space, take a look at our funny toppers.
A tree-topper or treetopper is a decorative ornament placed on the top (or "crown") of a Christmas tree. Tree-toppers can take any form[citation needed], though the most common include a star (representing the Star of Bethlehem), angel ("Christmas angel"), or fairy. Additional forms range from a paper rosette, ribbon bow, Father Christmas or Santa Claus, to a Christian cross, owl[citation needed], white dove, spike, or sunburst.
Tree-toppers may be made of from a wide range of materials. Modern plastic tree-toppers are often electric and once connected with the tree's lights offer a gentle glow. Following World War II, various symbols of Christmastide, such as Santa Claus, were introduced as electrified tree-toppers.
Origin and use
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Use of a Christmas angel as a tree-topper represents to some the angel Gabriel from the Nativity of Jesus:
"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary."
Luke 1:26–27 (KJV)
Use of a star represents the Star of Bethlehem:
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.'"
Matthew 2:1–2 (KJV)
During the 1870s, in conjunction with the growing power of the British Empire, the Union Jack became another popular tree-topper.[1]
Alternatives
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Some Neo-pagan homes celebrate the winter solstice, which falls close to Christmas, by decorating an evergreen tree as a symbol of continuing life, but make an effort to decorate it with non-Christian symbols[2] and often choose tree-toppers representing the sun.
Popular culture
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Hans Christian Andersen's 1844 short story, "The Fir-Tree", describes the decoration of a Danish Christmas tree, including its topper:
"On one branch there hung little nets cut out of colored paper, and each net was filled with sugarplums; and among the other boughs gilded apples and walnuts were suspended, looking as though they had grown there, and little blue and white tapers were placed among the leaves. Dolls that looked for all the world like men—the Tree had never beheld such before—were seen among the foliage, and at the very top a large star of gold tinsel was fixed."[3]
The use of a tree-topper is also depicted in Christmas songs, with lines such as "Först en stjärna utav gull" and "So hang a shining star upon the highest bough".
Image gallery
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Post-War NOMA plastic, electrified angel tree-topper
Croatian Christmas star
Homemade Christmas angel
See also
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References
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Media related to Christmas tree at Wikimedia Commons