Download - Christmas Tree Explanation - EdShed · spider’s webs based on a traditi onal tale. The Swedes are fond of using their nati onal ﬂ ag to decorate their branches whilst folks from

STAGE 4Unit focus: ChristmasText focus: Information Text

Christmas TreesAsatradition,celebratingthewinterperiodwithanevergreentreedatesbackthousandsofyears.PagansusedbranchestodecoratetheirhomeswhilstRomansusedfirtreestodecoratetheirtemples.Itwasn’tuntilthe16thcenturythatpeoplestartedtobringtreesintothehouse.ItisbelievedthatthefirstpersontodothismayhavebeenaGermanpreachernamedMartinLuther.Thetruthis,wejustdon’tknowwhohadthewonderfulideafirst.

At Home InEngland,thetraditionisevenmorerecent.ChristmastreesbecamepopularinEnglandduringthe1850s.Thiswasa�erQueenCharlotte(thewifeofKingGeorgeIII)erectedatreeinsideWindsorCastle.Atfirst,theyweremainlypopularwiththewealthiermembersofsociety.

DecorationsOriginally,treesweredecoratedwithcandlestorepresentstars.TherearestillplacesacrossEuropewherethistraditioncontinues.Nowadays,somepeopleusea“skirt”aroundthebottomoftheirtree.Thefirstoneswouldhavebeenmorelikeasmallcarpetorrugunderneaththetree.Theywereusedtocatchlooseneedlesandwaxfromthecandles.Thiswasimportantasmanyofthefirsttreesweresmallerandsatontables.

Ifatreewascutdown(ratherthandugup),itwouldhavebeenattachedtoalargerpieceofwood.Thiswaso�enunsightly,andsoasmallnativityscenemayhavebeenplacedunderthetreetohidethis.

Did You Know?Thefirsttinselwasmadearound1610outofrealsilver.Unfortunately,silvertarnishesquickly.Soon,othermetalshadtobeusedinstead.Itwasn’tevenusedtodecoratetreesuntilthe1800s;beforethenitwasusedtohangonsculptures!

WorldwideAroundtheworld,differentcultureshavedifferenttraditionsaboutwhattoplaceonatree.InNorthAmerica,theyo�enusegarlandsofpopcorn.OverinEasternEurope,theyhangglassspidersandspider’swebsbasedonatraditionaltale.TheSwedesarefondofusingtheirnationalflagtodecoratetheirbrancheswhilstfolks

fromIcelandcelebratethetraditionoftheYuleLads.IfyouchoosetodecorateaChristmastreethisyear,whynot

lookfurtherafieldtostartsomenewtraditionsofyourown?

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RETRIEVAL FOCUS1.Whenwasthefirsttinselmade?

2.WhatcanyoulearnfromtheWorldwide section?

3.Whatisthepurposeofthistext?

4.WhoerectedthefirstChristmastreeinEngland?

5.Whousedbranchestodecoratetheirhomes?

VIPERS QUESTIONS

I Findandcopyaphrasethatshowssilvertinselhadproblems.

E Whyhasthetextbeendividedusingsub-headings?

V Explainwhythewordskirthasbeenwritteninsidespeechmarks.

S WriteaparagraphsummarisingthekeypointsoftheDecorationssection.

Answers:

1.1610

2.AboutChristmasdecorationsaroundtheworld

3.ToeducatereadersaboutthehistoryofChristmastrees

4.QueenCharlotte

5.Pagans

I:Unfortunately,silvertarnishesquickly

E:Tomakeinformationeasiertofind

R:Thousands

I:Anysuitablesummaryincludingthemainpointsabouttreesoriginallylookinguntidyandneedingtobedecorated/decorationsrepresentingstars.



Download - Christmas Tree Explanation - EdShed · spider’s webs based on a traditi onal tale. The Swedes are fond of using their nati onal ﬂ ag to decorate their branches whilst folks from

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