The Christmas tree with its decorations

In many Danish homes, Christmas is celebrated with singing and dancing around a Christmas tree - even if this year unfortunately it has to be done with all possible precautions and in alternative ways. The Christmas tree is a relatively new tradition in the celebration of Christmas, even though it has been more than 200 years since the first modern Christmas tree is mentioned in sources in Denmark. Among Danish Jews, it is actually said that it was a German Jew who brought the first tree and thus the custom to Denmark. But can it also be true?

In any case, we have not been able to find the source of that story. The first mention of a Christmas tree according to German custom in Denmark dates from 1804, when Johan Wolfhagen had a Christmas tree in his living room in Copenhagen. He came from the duchies, and worked as a lawyer on Slotsholmen, but was not Jewish. However, there is a distant family connection (Wolfhagen's son's wife's father was Jewish). Johan Wolfhagen probably knew Martin Lehmann (Orla Lehmann's father), who got a similar Christmas tree in 1811, which is often considered the first Christmas tree in Copenhagen. But it is not.

There is little doubt that the custom gained traction in Denmark from Germany via the duchies. Another early Christmas tree was lit in 1808 at Holsteinborg by the married couple Countess Wilhelmine Reventlow (1788-1868) from Brahe-Trolleborg on Funen and Viscount Frederik Adolph Holstein-Holsteinborg (1784-1836) during the celebration of their first family Christmas. The countess probably also knew about the custom from her aunt and uncle in Holstein. If anyone has knowledge or the source of the history of the Jewish connection, we would love to hear from you. As always, write to Thomas at te@jewmus.dk.

Although it is a relatively new tradition in Denmark, there are actually sources that people decorated with spruce and evergreen trees as early as the 1400th century in connection with festivals and town squares, especially in areas connected to the German areas. From here, the custom spread in the 1500th and 1600th centuries to such an extent that legislation was passed against felling fir trees. It became more widespread in private homes in the 1700th century, and in the early 1800th century the custom came to Denmark from Germany. From here, the tree moved into the living rooms of the bourgeoisie, where it has become part of the Danish Christmas tradition from the middle of the 1800th century. Songs were written about the Christmas tree, and it was decorated with drums, trumpets and flags. A bit of national war romance in the light of contemporary wars against Germany. Christmas and the Christmas tree therefore became part of the 1800th century's new national Danish self-understanding. From the end of the century, they started hanging German glass ornaments on the tree, so it came to look much like it does today.

Jews in Denmark were granted civil rights in 1814. The well-to-do Jewish families became an integral part of the Danish citizenry. Allegedly, someone has been influenced and has adopted a number of the new customs and traditions that were developing among the Danish citizenry, also around the celebration of Christmas. In any case, just a generation after the Christmas tree has become a permanent part of the Christmas celebration in Denmark, you find a pointed Jewish comment on Christmas trees in Jewish families in the form of a satirical drawing by a Danish Jew from the 1930s. It is a reproduction of a similar drawing from a German-Jewish satirical magazine from 1904. Just to cut the point out in cardboard, it is written above the drawing: This is how Cohn became Conrad. It is both an expression of cultural exchange and a certain resistance to it.