Illuminated Christmas trees draw ridicule

Christmas is just a few weeks away—and preparations are in full swing in Saxony’s cities. In many places, Christmas trees are currently being set up and decorated in the city centers. However, this isn’t causing unbridled excitement everywhere. For example, passersby in Dresden are complaining that this year’s tree for the famous Striezelmarkt lacks a proper top. The 23-meter-tall Nordmann fir was only erected on the Altmarkt this past weekend. 

“The tree kind of looks like a ‘little bonsai tree, not a Christmas tree,’” says passerby Birgit. Her companion Karla agrees: “A Christmas tree without a top isn’t a Christmas tree.” Even the star can’t change that now, Birgit says: “It won’t make up for it either.”

Every spruce has a face

Thomas takes a more laid-back view. “Every spruce has its own character,” says the 86-year-old Dresden resident. He thinks the tree is quite pretty. The only thing is that the star needs to be scaled a bit better to the tree’s size. David Rost, on the other hand, can’t understand all the fuss: “It’s just a Christmas tree. People always make such a huge deal out of it.”

This year’s Striezelmarkt fir comes from a private property in the Neundorf district of Pirna. However, the city of Dresden acknowledged that the tree lost a few branches during transport. “The side of the tree that was resting directly on the flatbed trailer during transport lost a few branches. Unfortunately, this was unavoidable from a logistical standpoint. The affected areas have already been professionally repaired,” the city stated. To compensate, new branches were attached to the tree.

The market opens on November 25. By then, the Striezelmarkt fir tree is set to sparkle—the 2,160-meter-long LED light chain is equipped with approximately 260,000 lights. At the top shines a Herrnhut star visible from afar.

A branch snapped during felling for the Leipzig market

The Christmas tree in Leipzig also faced criticism regarding its appearance early this week. This year, for the first time, it comes from the Sauerland region. “A branch snapped” while the tree was being felled, said Walter Ebert, director of the Leipzig Market Office. Ebert cited the transportation company that also felled the tree.

However, given that it was just a single branch, Ebert didn’t even want to call it damage. The repair was carried out immediately using two wires and posed no problem. “You can’t see anything anymore,” said Ebert. The tree is currently being decorated with 300 red and 300 gold ornaments, as well as 3,000 LED lights. 

Christmas trees are always a topic of conversation

Christmas trees are always a topic of conversation: Four years ago, a rather bare Christmas tree in front of Dresden’s Frauenkirche caused quite a stir. On social media, the tree was mocked and dubbed a “disgraceful spruce,” or people speculated that it was a recycled tree from the previous year. In fact, the organizers had deliberately chosen regional trees—at the time, many trees in the Free State of Bavaria had been damaged, partly by drought and partly by forest fires.

A sparse spruce tree for the holidays had also made headlines in Thuringia a few years ago: In 2018, a red spruce that looked as if it had been plucked led to both ridicule and admiration as the Christmas tree for Thuringia’s largest Christmas market in Erfurt. The tree was nicknamed “Rupfi.” From the very beginning, there had also been expressions of affection for the very sparse tree, and many people had their photos taken in front of it.