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Richard: It's December which means along with present buying, many people in the UK are thinking about their Christmas decorations and, in particular, their Christmas tree.
Jackie: Mmm, yes. Should it be inside or outside? Should it be real or artificial? Big or small and what kind of decorations?
Richard: So for this week's podcastsinenglish.com we're asking: why a tree and what's this to do with Christmas anyway?
Jackie: It's not any old tree is it, Richard?
Richard: No, it's got to be an evergreen, a conifer.
Jackie: A conifer, usually I think a pine...?
Richard: A pine or a fir.
Jackie: But it's the shape as well, Richard, which is important, isn't it? It's got to be a particular... that nice triangular shape.
Richard: Yes. So where did the modern Christmas tree come from then, Jackie?
Jackie: Well, as you said Richard, it's an evergreen tree so for a long, long time before Christianity started, an evergreen tree was symbolic of eternal life so often when they had celebrations in the wintertime the tree was used as a symbol. It was about four to five hundred years ago in Germany that they started to introduce the tree in with the idea of Christmas.
Richard: Okay. And when did it come to Britain then?
Jackie: Well Richard, Queen Victoria was married to...
Richard: Prince Albert who was German...
Jackie: Who was German. So very popular for the Germans so he brought the Christmas tree along.
Richard: So it was quite a recent thing then in the UK?
Jackie: Well, a hundred, a hundred and fifty years, yes I suppose so. She liked it um... it became traditional in their household and of course the British public wanted to do the same. Now obviously people have Christmas trees in their home but there are public Christmas trees as well, aren't there?
Richard: Yes. The very famous one... there's a very famous tree that they put up in Trafalgar Square in central London...
Jackie: In London, yes.
Richard: ...and that's an annual present from the Norwegians.
Jackie: Right
Richard: It's in thanks for British support um... during the Second World War.
Jackie: Right, now it's a pretty mammoth tree, isn't it?
Richard: Usually about twenty metres high and between 50 and 100 years old.
Jackie: That is very high and very old.
Richard: They always pick the best tree in the forest and it's actually known as “the Queen of the Forest”.
Jackie: Wow. So what do you put on your Christmas tree? Tinsel of course...
Richard: Tinsel, baubles.
Jackie: Red baubles are very popular and they say that's because in the past they used to use apples on the... on the trees.
Richard: Oh really? I just thought red went with green.
Jackie: No. Also in the past they used to put candles...
Richard: ..ho ho ho, candles, very dangerous.
Jackie: But we have lights now, don't we?
Richard: Definitely, yes. Little fairy lights we call them. And of course at the top, the top of the Christmas tree [it's] very traditional to have either a star or a fairy.
Jackie: Or an angel.
Richard: An angel, sorry, an angel, yes, that's right.
Jackie: Yes, yes
Richard: And always the best bit as a child we always put the unopened presents at the bottom of the Christmas tree and we always liked to guess what we were getting.
Jackie: Yes, now we've got two Christmas trees haven't we, Richard?
Richard: We have, yes.
Jackie: We have a... not such a nice artificial one inside with flashing Christmas lights, but we also have ...
Richard: We've got one growing in the garden.
Jackie: Which has got solar lights on it.
Richard: Exactly.
Jackie: So double Christmas tree for us.
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