Celebrating Christmas 2023 in New York without coming to see the decorations at Saks Fifth Avenue and the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center would be as incongruous as not seeing the illuminated Eiffel Tower when visiting Paris. But what do we really know about the origin of this New York tradition? A little reminder is in order.
An almost century-old tradition illustrated with ten steps
We will have to wait until 2031 to celebrate this historic centenary, since the first Christmas tree was installed in 1931 in front of the Rockefeller Center complex to liven up the place during this festive period.
Rockefeller Center was not the first site in Manhattan to host a Christmas tree since in 1912 the first tree was erected in Madison Square Park to satisfy all those who could not afford one at home.
In 1931, we were at the peak of the Great Depression after Black September of 1929 when Wall Street collapsed and the workers building Rockefeller Center, which was the largest private building at that time with the Empire State Building, decided to raise a kitty to erect a tree approximately 6 meters high. This one is decorated with handmade garlands and cranberry clusters.
Two years later, a publicist from Rockefeller Center transformed this simple event into a tradition, organizing a lighting ceremony and this time transporting a 15 meter high tree.
In 1936, organizers erected two trees and set up the skating oval for a skater competition.
This time the tradition is launched and will go through all the adventures of the place and history. During the Second World War, the tree was replaced by patriotic objects in the colors of America and by fluorescent globes at the time of victory in 1945.
In 1951, NBC broadcast the lighting ceremony for the first time and the decoration only became more beautiful over time.
During the tragic events at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the tree was redecorated in the national colors, red, white, blue.
In 2007, LED lighting was introduced to reduce energy consumption and in 2018, the jewelry brand Swarovski created the new crystal star which crowns the tree with architect Daniel Libeskind.
During the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020, the tradition was preserved apart from the lighting ceremony which was canceled, but a controversy arose given the poor condition of the tree which seemed to express all the sadness of the moment. The nice touch was that while unwrapping the tree an owl was found in the branches and saved in time.
The 2023 edition of the Rockefeller Center tree
This year, it was the McKinley family who donated the 25-meter-high Norway spruce planted on their property located in Binghamton in upstate New York, a 3-hour drive from Manhattan . The tree crowned with a 3D star from Swarovski made from 3 million crystals was illuminated with its 50,000 lights on November 29 by the Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, in the presence of the singer Kelly Clarkson and the always sparkling Radio City Rockettes.
It is the head gardener of Rockefeller Center, Erik Pauze, the real Santa Claus of the place and has been for 30 years now, who falls each year to the difficult task of choosing the Christmas tree and supervising its delivery and delivery. decoration every year. Looking at the 2023 specimen, we can once again say bravo and thank you to Erik. Good visit!
2023-12-12 17:03:57
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