Christmas tree

What’s your Christmas tree tradition? The origins of a holiday symbol

As far as we can tell, the use of the first modern Christmas tree was developed in medieval Livonia, in current day Latvia and Estonia. Tallinn claims to have set the first modern Christmas tree ceremoniously on fire in their town square in 1441, while Riga claims to have done the same thing in 1510. The latter still has a plaque commemorating the occasion.