Christmas Fact and Folklore by DeLong Farms

Facts, Traditions and Folklore

Recyclable, Renewable Benefits of Real Christmas Trees
Christmas Tree Farming Today
The Christmas Trees Origin
Nova Scotia's Most Beloved Folk Artist Maud Lewis
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Recyclable, Renewable Benefits of Real Christmas Trees

Christmas trees are more than just the celebration of life during the holidays,
they're a source of life after it.
Each year more consumers are discovering the
recyclable, renewable benefits of real Christmas trees.

Real Christmas trees,
unlike artificial ones which aren't biodegradable
and will remain in landfills for centuries after their disposed of,
can provide something back to the environment
in a variety of ways:

Christmas trees are biodegradable - the trunk and branches can be used as mulch for gardens, parks or in animal stalls. The mulch provides a protect barrier for the roots of other plants and vegetation while preventing weeds from growing. The mulch then decomposes, providing the nutrients plants need to thrive.
Mulching programs are a fast-growing trend in communities throughout the nation. Check with your local department of public works for information.
Some communities use Christmas trees to make effective sand and soil erosion barriers, especially at beaches and on river beds. Sunk into private fish ponds trees make excellent refuge and feeding area for fish.
Before recycling, Christmas trees can be used to make bird feeders, adding colour and excitement to the winter garden. Utilize orange slices, suet, and seed to attract the birds. They will come for the food and stay for the shelter in the branches.
Important: Never burn your Christmas tree in a fireplace or wood stove. Burning the tree may contribute to creosote buildup.

Christmas Tree Farming Today

Prior to the 1950s,
most family Christmas trees came from the forest;
today over 98% are plantation grown.
Most Christmas trees begin life in a nursery
where superior seed is planted
and grown to two-year-old seedlings.

Most seedlings are then taken from the nursery beds
and replanted in Christmas tree farms
for their final years of development.

Christmas tree farms have environmental benefits. They replenish the environment's oxygen supply, serve as wildlife habitat, increase soil stability and provide a valuable and aesthetically pleasing improvement to the land. Christmas trees are frequently planted on barren slopes or under power lines where no other crops will grow.
A Christmas tree takes 4-16 years to mature. During the time a Christmas tree is growing into a well-shaped 6-8 foot tree, it faces many hazards. Trees can suffer from too little or too much sun or rain, destruction by rodents, insects, disease, hail or fire, and overgrowth from bushes, vines and weeds, or theft from the field.
Christmas trees are pruned annually. By holding back rapid upward growth, the grower can encourage the tree to branch more quickly, and gradually achieve the full bushy appearance consumers look for in a Christmas tree.
At harvest time, wholesale growers select and tag the finished trees. The tagged trees are cut, bundled and loaded on trucks and railroad cars for the journey to any one of thousands of retail lots across the country.
For each tree cut, 2 to 3 seedlings are planted, thus ensuring the continued environmental benefits of Christmas tree farming and our supply of natural Christmas trees.

The Christmas Trees Origin

....the Christmas tree is a mandala,
a bundle of symbols
showing what creation has to offer....
....light and the movement of angels,
the gifts of orchard and field, forest and sea,
all topped off by the star
that pointed to the end of the journey,
the place of peace....

During Advent in the XIth century, scenes called mysteries , including one about Paradise, were very popular. A tree decorated with red apples symbolized the tree of Paradise. During the XVth century, the faithful began to put up trees in their own houses on December 24, the feast day of Adam and Eve.
However, the first Christmas tree as we know it, but without lights still, appeared in Alsace in 1521. It was introduced in France by the Princess Hélène de Mecklembourg who brought one to Paris after her marriage to the Duke of Orleans. In the XVIIIth century, the custom of decorating a Christmas tree was well established in Germany, France and Austria.
In 1841, Prince Albert (originally from Germany), husband of Queen Victoria, set up a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in England. From the royal court, the custom of Christmas trees spread quickly to the middle class and then to working people. For Victorians, a good Christmas tree had to be six branches tall and be placed on a table covered with a white damask tablecloth. It was decorated with garlands, candies and paper flowers.

Celebrating Nova Scotia's Most Beloved Folk Artist
Maud Lewis

MAUDE LEWIS PAINTING

....Maud Lewis
captured the beauty and simplicity
of rural life in her Nova Scotia Community....
....Broad strokes, bright colours,
Maud painted a
" World Without Shadows " " When I first met Maud Lewis,
I was a child.
When I first met Maud Lewis,
I thought she was a witch.
Maud was then a little old woman,
as little as I was and her hands were twisted
and her back was bent like a hunchback's.
Her shoulders were tilted
and her bright eyes glittered.
When she smiled at me
all I could think of was Hansel and Gretel,
and when my sister and I
met her on the Marshalltown road
we would hide in the ditch
or cut off into the alders."
excerpt from Lance Gerard Woolaver's
World Without Shadows
(c) copyright 1995
MAUDE LEWIS
Maud Lewis
1903 - 1970
Marshalltown,
Digby County, Nova Scotia

The emergence and popularity of Maud Lewis' paintings perhaps marked the beginning of national and international awareness of Nova Scotia as having a particularly rich practice of what is known as "folk art".
Typical of most folk artists, Maud had no training in the visual arts and painted for the joy of expression, and as a means of adding colour and fun to a quiet, rural life. Her experience of the world extended to an area between her birthplace in Yarmouth County and her married home in Marshalltown, Digby County. Her tiny home had no electricity and thus television to bring in the outside world. Her health restricted her physical mobility so much that as an adult she rarely left her home, or even the corner of the tiny house where she painted by the window. Maud and Everett Lewis' house was only 4.1 m. by 3.8 m. with a tiny sleeping loft at the top of a ladder (later stairs).
From this small world came a proliferation of paintings depicting a charming rural life full of flowers, cats, colourful teams of oxen, sleigh rides, birds, and deer. These were painted on small pieces of pulpboard with whatever paints could be obtained - oilbased house paints and cheap hobby paints. She sold the paintings from her home for as little as $2.50. Some were sold at a local store and as her popularity grew, requests came in the mail. Prices rose to $5.00
Perhaps Maud's greatest work was her home. She painted almost every surface of the interior, including the stove, the windows and the door (both sides) with flowers and birds. After her death and that of Everett, various attempts to care for the house were not successful and it fell into a very bad state. The house was acquired by the Province for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and in the fall of 1996 the house will be stabilized, conserved and made ready for public display in 1997. This project will take place at the Sunnyside Mall in Bedford, Nova Scotia, giving everyone the opportunity to see the work as it progresses.

DeLong Farms

A Legend Fresh From Nova Scotia

RR #1 New Germany
Nova Scotia, Canada
B0R 1E0

Phone 1 800 565 1230
Fax 1 800 563 4447
e-mail: christmas@delongfarms.com

Hand Craft Fresh Fragrant Balsam Fir Gifts
Christmas Wreaths, Centrepieces and much more.
Delivered anywhere in Canada or United States.
Includes your personal Christmas Greeting.

Fundraising Program
Unique Christmas Fund Raiser for Churches, Sports
and Service Groups, any Non Profit Organization.
We customize our program
to accomodate your needs.

Order On Line NOW
If you like Holiday Shopping with today's technology,
we have it, but we prefer talking with our customers
1-800-565-1230

Tracking the delivery of your Christmas Gifts
Would you like to know :
What day and time your gift was shipped
or the day it was delivered or maybe who signed for it?

LARGER WHOLESALE
For the Christmas Tree Yard Operators
For the aggressive Fundraising Group.
Tractor and Container Loads (possible half loads)
Pricing and Product information.

Frequently Asked Questions

JUST FOR FUN

CONTEST
Monthly prizes perfect for Christmas Gift Giving.
Grand Prize will lavish you with " Fir "

Christmas Music (midi / mp3)
Very large selection of Christmas Carols
many categories, from Traditional, to Unique
and our favourites, Old & New Religious

Facts and Folklore
Information on Christmas Trees & Wreaths
plus little trinkits of our favourite things.

Our Preferred Links
Links to our favourite subjects,
Christmas, Nova Scotia, Acadian/Cajun
and the History that goes with them.