© Slovak Post, 2007 Green decorated trees as a symbol of Christmas appeared in the territory of Slovakia at the beginning of the 19th century. The tradition derived from Germany and Austria and initially became part of Christmas season solely in bourgeois families. Only at the end of the 19th century did the tree also start to become part of peasant culture. In village households it gradually replaced the Christmas cribs and straw decorations that had originally constituted the Christmas decorations of such houses. Later, trees became common in Northern and Eastern Slovakia, replacing larger straw objects, which were hung over...