Tree Standing Ceremony
Black Friday
The Christmas Tree Is Stood Up and the First Carol Sung
About Tree Standing Ceremony
The Tree Standing Ceremony celebrates the simple yet profound tradition of putting up the Christmas tree. On this day, families bring home their chosen tree and give it pride of place in the home. Rather than rushing to decorate, this ceremony encourages everyone to appreciate the tree’s natural beauty, to let it stand in its bare majesty. Before the day ends, gather around the tree to sing “O Tannenbaum.” For those craving something more, set up a toy train beneath it, enjoying the tree’s towering stature (relative to the train). Letting the tree stand unadorned for a few days breaks up the decorating activities while lending them a gentle formality. The nativity is, for a while, more present than the presents under the tree.
Ways to observe
(A) Low effort
Set up the Christmas tree in its designated spot and take a moment to enjoy its beauty, unadorned.
(B) Recommended
Gather the family to put up the tree together and sing a Christmas song. Take a few photos to mark the occasion and spend some time enjoying the simplicity of the tree’s natural beauty.
(C) High effort
Host a Tree Standing Ceremony with friends and family. Bring everyone together to put up the tree, sing a carol like O Tannenbaum, and share stories of past Christmases. For added fun, set up a toy train beneath the tree and let it chug along while you sip hot cocoa and admire your work.
Inspiration
Few moments in the season feel more sacred than the arrival of the Christmas tree. Whether it’s carried home on the roof of your car or pulled from the attic in three color-coded pieces, the tree’s first appearance marks a dramatic moment in the calendar. A tree has been installed in your living room! The decision to let it rest before hanging ornaments might strike some as restraint bordering on blasphemy. But trust me, the payoff is worth it. Christmas trees first appeared in 16th-century Germany, where families brought evergreen trees indoors to mark the season. Martin Luther reportedly added candles to his, inspired by starlight glinting through forest branches. Over time, the custom traveled. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert famously posed beside a tree with their children, helping popularize the tradition in England and, soon after, America. But before all the lights and ornaments and blinking LED snowflakes, the tree itself was the centerpiece. A few candles, maybe. A garland of nuts. Mostly, though, just tree. There’s something inspiring about letting it stand like that again. The branches ease into place. The scent of pine and sap drifts into corners. A toy train circling below seems to bestow honor upon it. And when the time finally comes to decorate (three days from now), it feels momentous, like a superhero revealing a secret identity. The tree has had its moment, and now it’s ready to be dressed in its ultimate finery.
Adornments
Watch
Tree Man (2015)
Each December, a Quebecois tree seller migrates to Manhattan, setting up camp on a sidewalk and transforming a patch of pavement into a pop-up forest. Tree Man observes the rhythms of seasonal labor, urban loneliness, and fleeting community.
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Melancholy piano, scraggly trees, and the search for meaning in a season gone commercial. A Charlie Brown Christmas captures the fragile joy of the holidays like nothing else.
Listen
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree (Traditional)
An 18th-century English carol often sung a cappella by choirs in hushed churches. A deeply poetic admiration of Christ as the tree of life.
Arbolito de Navidad (Traditional)
Especially popular in Latin America (notably Cuba), this song is an ode to the Christmas tree. Sung in Spanish with a lilting folk melody, it personifies the tree as a cherished guest in the home.
O Tannenbaum (Traditional)
A German carol with roots in 16th-century folk music, “O Tannenbaum” praises the steadfastness of the fir tree as a symbol of enduring hope.
Read
The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen
The story of a little fir tree so eager for glory that he never savors the present. He longs to be cut down and adorned with candles; once he becomes a splendid Christmas tree, he yearns for what’s next.
A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens
Narrated by an adult revisiting childhood memories evoked by the ornaments on a Christmas tree. By the end, the glittering tree becomes a symbol not only of childhood wonder but also of time’s passing and mortality. A dreamy meditation.