Tuesday, November 26, 2002 – Page A18

-- Aside from the fact that Toronto's bureaucrats renamed the Christmas tree a Holiday tree, it is sad we Canadians know little about our history (Beginning To Look A Lot Like Holiday -- Nov. 22; Reverting To Paganism? -- letter, Nov. 23).

TV and print media legitimize the Christmas tree's presence here because Prince Albert introduced it to Britain when he married Queen Victoria in 1840. This has no relevance to the Christmas tree in Canada.

Officially, the Baroness Frederika von Riedesel lit the first Christmas tree in a Canadian government building in the Governor's Residence in Sorel in 1781. She was the wife of the commander of the Brunswick troops who fought with the British in the Revolutionary War. The Quebec town still lights a tree outside this unimposing building in commemoration.

In Nova Scotia, the Christmas tree became known when about 2,000 Protestant German settlers came to Halifax between 1750 and 1752, many of whom founded Lunenburg in 1753. The custom spread inland as these settlers founded new communities.

The many Empire Loyalists of German ancestry who settled the Niagara Peninsula and Quinte brought the Christmas tree there. Later, settlers in today's Kitchener-Waterloo area entrenched the tradition long before anyone thought of Victoria and Albert. Hence, the practice of lighting Christmas trees in Canada is older than the nation itself.