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The modern Christmas tree tradition
came from western Germany, from a medieval custom, as a paradise tree -- a tree decorated
with apples, wafers (or cookies), and candles representing the Garden of Eden, the host,
and Christ. By the 19th century it had become a deep-rooted German tradition. European
countries such as Austria, Switerland, The Netherlands, and Poland imported the German
tradition. Queen Victoria's husband, German Prince Albert popularized the tradition in
England after it had been introduced earlier in the 19th century. German and English
settlers to North America brought the tradition there and missionaries in the 19th and
20th centuries spread the tradition to China, Japan, and other parts of Asia.
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