The High Church Movement and the Cult of Saint Nicholas

There always was a religious connection with the Christmas tree in the eyes of those who decorated it, buried as that connection may have been beneath layers upon layers of ideological veneer. In a 1597 reference to a Christmas tree at Türkheim in Alsace, there is mention of colored papers for flowers, apples, and communion wafers used as decoration.⁹ The term actually used was Hostien, although elsewhere in later accounts of Christmas trees, we see the word Oblaten. Oblaten are made with a wafer iron. Hostien, however, are communion wafers; there is no doubt about the meaning of this word. Communion wafers may seem like a curious thing to hang on Christmas trees, but in this period they were often impressed with religious scenes and symbols, and therefore had a highly ornamental appearance.