Tradition & Pictures: Christmas tree lighting at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal

As tradition requires, the Christmas trees are beginning to light up homes and hotels. Last Tuesday, Le Raffles invited several hundred people to celebrate this family moment around a gigantic, elegant tree that stood proudly in the hotel lobby.

Christmas tree lighting at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal

The celebration was well attended, and included a fine choral performance by the little singers from the Phnom Penh Adventist Church.

The little singers of the Phnom Penh Adventist Church

It was a great family atmosphere on a night when the Raffles also offered a tasting of succulent petits fours and cocktails.

Wines, cocktails and fruit juices

Did you know that the custom of the Christmas tree developed in Central Europe, particularly in Germany, Estonia and Latvia, where Protestant Christians brought decorated trees into their homes?

They began to light Christmas trees with candles, which were often replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification. Today, there is a wide variety of traditional and modern ornaments, such as baubles, illuminated garlands and candy canes.

Christmas tree lighting at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal

An angel or a star can be placed at the top of the tree to represent the Angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity, respectively. Edible items such as gingerbread, chocolate and other sweets also remain popular and are tied or hung from the branches of the tree with ribbons. The Christmas tree has always been considered a custom of the Lutheran churches, and it wasn't until 1982 that the Catholic Church erected the Vatican Christmas tree.

In the Western Christian tradition, Christmas trees are erected on various dates and, depending on the country, customs dictate that it is unfortunate to remove Christmas decorations, such as the Christmas tree, before the Twelfth Night.

Origins of the modern Christmas tree

The modern Christmas tree originated in Central Europe and the Baltic States, particularly Estonia, Germany and Latvia, during the Renaissance in early modern Europe. Its 16th-century origins are sometimes associated with the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, who is said to have been the first to add lighted candles to a tree. Documents show that a Christmas tree was placed in Strasbourg cathedral in 1539 on the initiative of the Protestant reformer Martin Bucer.

Moravian Christians placed lighted candles on these trees. The oldest firmly dated depiction of a Christmas tree can be found on the keystone of a private house in Turckheim, Alsace (then part of the Holy Roman Empire, now in France), and is dated 1576.

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