The Christmas tree on The Mound is one of those annual institutions you kind of take for granted but I passed it by the other day and it inevitably got me thinking about how far back such a tradition of public Christmas Trees goes in Edinburgh 🎄 Shall we take a thread and find out? 🧵▶️ - ThreadSky

threadinburgh.scot • 79 days ago

The Christmas tree on The Mound is one of those annual institutions you kind of take for granted but I passed it by the other day and it inevitably got me thinking about how far back such a tradition of public Christmas Trees goes in Edinburgh 🎄
Shall we take a thread and find out? 🧵▶️

Comments

aidanmcglynn.bsky.social•79 days ago

My favourite was the year they wrote "EDINBURGH" in massive golden letters, for those who were standing a stone's throw from the castle but didn't know which city they were in

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

URGH indeed.

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

Christmas trees in Edinburgh predate considerably their public display. Adverts for the sale of this "favourite German amusement" are increasingly common in the local papers from the early 1850s onwards and many higher end shops and department stores made them an attraction to draw in customers.

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

It's clear from the newspaper reporting that proprietors were vying with eachother to have the biggest and most elaborately decorated tree in order to get themselves positive newspaper columns. But unless you were particularly wealthy, these shops or having a tree were something of a novelty.

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

It would take over 80 years though to get one on public display - which was thanks to St. John's Episcopal Church on Princes Street which in 1936 got permission from the Cleansing & Lighting Committee of the City Corporation to erect a 25ft high tree, so long as it had no flashing lights.

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

This may have been in response to the public display of Christmas Trees in St. Paul's Cathedral in London the previous year, which were the gift of the King and Queen. In 1937 the Royals extended such a donation to Edinburgh, with two trees sent down from the Balmoral Estate

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

One tree was for outside St. Giles High Kirk, long a Royal place of worship in Scotland, and the other was for the Canongate Kirk, in which parish the Palace of Holyroodhouse is located. The arrived on December 17th 1937.

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

Confusingly though, the newspaper photos on December 21st show *two* trees at St. Giles and described the King as having send two for there. So maybe he sent three trees in total? The pair were floodlit each night during the festive season.

ncdominie.bsky.social•79 days ago

"And what did *you* find under your Christmas tree?"

"Um... looks like the Crimean War, maybe?"

thedreadedlurgy.bsky.social•79 days ago

Andy, if I said 'no' would that make any difference? 😉

Looking forward to this one, as always.

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

Much like the "optional" workplace employee satisfaction survey, this is very mandatory.

thedreadedlurgy.bsky.social•79 days ago

At some point this month you should repost the Snowball Riots, for Bluesky folk who haven't seen that one.

economyofhope.bsky.social•79 days ago

Christmas tree?
You haven’t mentioned the illumination of New College.
Thought it vile from Princes Street and grand once I was close enough to see the details.
And a crib scene the size of a hotel room.

threadinburgh.scot•79 days ago

If my photo had come out clearer I was going to do a joke about the crazy-paving pattern projected over the base colours of the illumination obviously being a representation of the endless fracturing of Protestant churches in Scotland into many little pieces.

historylecturer.bsky.social•76 days ago

I hope the fashion for hanging lights this way doesn't last, though.

ianelliott.bsky.social•79 days ago

I really do think the old town comes into it's own at this time of year.

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