Assembling the Christmas tree is one of the traditions that those who celebrate this holiday look forward to most. In some homes it is almost a ritual with strict and measured steps and an order that they must follow so that their fir tree becomes the most adorned and striking being in the whole house . Others give it less importance and choose to turn it into a social convention rather than a decorative element around which to enjoy the dates. Be that as it may, it is rare to find a place where a Christmas tree is missing.
In 2012, a team of students from the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom) developed a system that revealed the perfect way to decorate a Christmas tree . The team developed a calculator that, using four mathematical formulas, predicted the perfect number of balls, tinsel, and lights needed to optimally decorate a tree based on height. Thus, to decorate a 180cm tree you would need: 37 balls, 565 centimeters of Christmas lights and 919 centimeters of tinsel . As for the size of the star that crowns it, it is calculated by dividing the height of the tree in centimeters by 10 .
“We hope that our formulas will make Christmas easier for everyone” , declared the creators of this original mathematical application which they have dubbed ‘ Treegonometry ‘ (a play on words between “trigonometry” and the word “tree” in English. ). In addition to domestic use, the application will also be a great help for public administrations and private companies that want to give a Christmas touch and place one of the large trees that are usually seen in the squares of cities around the world. For example, the fir tree that is usually placed in Trafalgar Square (London) has an average height of 21 meters high , so it would need 433 balls to be perfectly decorated.
This custom of decorating trees comes, like almost all ancient traditions , from the peoples of Celtic origin in northern and central Europe. Many of their gods were often represented and worshiped through trees, and in winter, a festival was held in honor of the birth of the sun god and fertility, Frey . In it, a tree was adorned that represented Yggdrasil , the world-tree of Norse mythology where the kingdoms of men, gods and other creatures are found .
It was also common for fir trees to be kept inside the houses since, as their leaves never fall or lose their green color , they were considered a symbol of life and rebirth. The most widespread belief is that it was Saint Boniface , an evangelizer from Germany, who took advantage of this pagan tradition to give it a new meaning and to adapt it to Christian beliefs . He replaced the worship of Odin through a tree with a pine tree that represented God and that was also decorated with apples (symbol of original sin) and candles (symbol of the light of Jesus).
