View source for Tree-topper

{{Short description|Decoration placed on top of a Christmas tree or Chrismon tree}}
[[File:Giant Christmas Tree, Cheshire Oaks - geograph.org.uk - 1068113.jpg|thumb|A Christmas tree crowned with a star tree-topper in [[Little Stanney]], Cheshire, in England, UK]]
[[File:The 68th Annual Chrismon Tree.jpg|thumb|A Chrismon tree in the [[chancel]] of a [[Lutheran]] church in [[Danville, Virginia|Danville]] with a star tree-topper.]]
A '''tree-topper''' or '''treetopper''' is a decorative ornament placed on the top (or "crown") of a [[Christmas tree]] or [[Chrismon tree]].<ref name="Mandryk2005"/><ref name="Storm2010">{{cite web |last1=Storm |first1=Christie |title=O, Chrismon tree |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/dec/18/o-chrismon-tree-20101218/ |publisher=[[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]] |access-date=17 January 2025 |language=en |date=18 December 2010}}</ref> Tree-toppers come in many forms, with the most common being a [[Star polygon|star]] (representing the [[Star of Bethlehem]]) or an [[angel]] (representing the [[Angel Gabriel]]), both from the [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]].<ref name="Mandryk2005">{{cite book |last=Mandryk |first=DeeAnn |url=https://archive.org/details/canadianchristma0000mand/page/67 |title=Canadian Christmas Traditions |date=25 October 2005 |publisher=James Lorimer & Company |isbn=978-1-55439-098-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/canadianchristma0000mand/page/67 67] |quote=The eight-pointed star became a popular manufactured Christmas ornament around the 1840s and many people place a star on the top of their Christmas tree to represent the Star of Bethlehem.}}</ref><ref name="Jones2011">{{cite book |last=Jones |first=David Albert |title=Angels |date=27 October 2011 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-161491-0 |page=24 |quote=The same ambiguity is seen in that most familiar of angels, the angel on top of the Christmas tree. This decoration, popularized in the nineteenth century, recalls the place of the angels in the Christmas story (Luke 2:9–18).}}</ref>  Additional forms range from a [[Christian cross]], [[Holy Spirit in Christianity#Symbolism and art|white dove]], [[wikt:rosette|paper rosette]], [[ribbon|ribbon bow]], [[Father Christmas]] or [[Santa Claus]].

Tree-toppers may be made of a wide range of materials. Modern plastic tree-toppers are often electric and, once connected with the [[Christmas lights|tree's lights]], offer a gentle glow. Following [[World War II]], various symbols of [[Christmastide]], such as stars, were introduced as electrified tree-toppers. The tradition of using a symbol representing the Star of Bethlehem as a tree-topper, however, dates as early as the 1840s.<ref name="Mandryk2005"/>

==Origin and use==
The use of a Christmas angel as a tree-topper represents the angel [[Gabriel]] from the [[Nativity of Jesus]]:<ref name="Jones2011"/>

{{quote|"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of [[Galilee]], named [[Nazareth]], to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was [[Saint Joseph|Joseph]], of the [[Davidic line|house of David]]; and the virgin's name was [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]]."|Luke 1:26–27 ([[King James Version|KJV]])}}

Use of a star represents the [[Star of Bethlehem]]:

{{quote|"Now when Jesus was born in [[Bethlehem]] of [[Judea|Judaea]] in the days of [[Herod the Great|Herod the king]], behold, there came [[Biblical Magi|wise men]] from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.'"|Matthew 2:1–2 ([[King James Version|KJV]])}}

During the 1870s, in conjunction with the growing power of the British Empire, the [[Union Jack]] became another popular tree-topper among some persons.<ref>{{cite book |last=Connelly |first=Mark |date=1999 |title=Christmas: A Social History |url=https://archive.org/details/christmassocialh0000conn/page/38/mode/2up?view=theater |url-access=registration |pages=38–40 |publisher=I. B. Taurus |isbn=1-86064-446-5}}</ref>

==Popular culture==
[[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s 1844 short story, "[[The Fir-Tree]]", describes the decoration of a Christmas tree in [[Culture of Denmark|Denmark]], including its topper:

{{quote|"On one branch there hung little nets cut out of colored paper, and each net was filled with sugarplums; and among the other boughs gilded apples and walnuts were suspended, looking as though they had grown there, and little blue and white tapers were placed among the leaves. Dolls that looked for all the world like men—the Tree had never beheld such before—were seen among the foliage, and at the very top a large star of gold tinsel was fixed."<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/hcaft10.txt Andersen's Fairy Tales], Project Gutenberg text</ref>}}

The use of a tree-topper is also depicted in Christmas songs, with lines such as "[[Raska fötter springa tripp, tripp, tripp|Först en stjärna utav gull]]" and "[[Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas|So hang a shining star upon the highest bough]]".

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Topper Angel.jpg|Post-War [[NOMA (company)|NOMA]] plastic, electrified angel tree-topper
File:Božić na Jadranu 003.jpg|Christmas star in Croatia
File:Treetopper.JPG|Homemade Christmas angel
File:Victoria and Albert Christmas Tree.png|"That pretty German toy, a Christmas tree" (1848), ''[[The Illustrated London News]]''
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Christmas tree]]
*[[Christmas ornament]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons-inline|Christmas tree}}

{{Christmas trees}}

[[Category:Christmas decorations]]
[[Category:Christmas trees|Topper]]