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The felled oak tree yielded the fir tree as symbol of Christmas.

One of the earliest references to the fir tree as a symbol of Christmas involves the British monk and missionary St. Boniface (born Winfrid in A.D. 680). Boniface was preaching a sermon on the Nativity to a tribe of Germanic Druids outside the town of Geismar. To convince the idolaters that the oak tree was not sacred and inviolable, the “Apostle of Germany” felled one on the spot. Toppling, it crushed every shrub in its path except for a small fir sapling. Legend has it that Boniface, attempting to win converts, hailed the fir tree’s survival as a miracle, concluding, “Let this be called the tree of the Christ Child.” Subsequently, Germans celebrated Christmas by planting fir saplings.

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