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- Title
The Christmas Tree Becomes French: From Foreign Curiosity to Philanthropic Icon, 1860-1914.
- Authors
Foley, Susan
- Abstract
The Christmas tree was largely a foreign curiosity in France until France's defeat in the Franco- Prussian War of 1870 saw Alsace and large parts of Lorraine subsumed into the German Empire. From 1872, exiles from Alsace organized the "Christmas Tree of the Alsatians and Lorrainers," an annual charity event to aid refugee children from those regions. Thanks to the popularity of this event, which received wide publicity, the Christmas tree (associated with Alsace) became an emotion-laden symbol of the "Lost Provinces." It kept the cause of their recovery in the public mind and associated that cause with the Republic. Its popularity also led to the Christmas tree's adoption for other causes. It gradually became a symbol of republican social welfare measures, receiving official support. The public roles played by the Christmas tree in France pre-dated its widespread domestic use: a reversal of the pattern in other Western societies such as Germany and America.
- Subjects
CHRISTMAS trees; FRENCH history, 1789-; ALSATIANS
- Publication
French History & Civilization, 2017, Vol 7, p139
- ISSN
1832-9683
- Publication type
Article