Saw II

. This is comparable to the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood. (disputed — see talk page). Some churches use the same stripped Christmas tree as a Christian cross at Easter. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Although some argue that he depended on a significant amount of uncuntrolable events to happen, that is not the case because as we later learn it was all a recording and he knew before the cops arrived what was going on. Such individuals and Christian denominations are unlikely to celebrate Christmas at all, for the same reason, such as the United Church of God.
Even more so than then the previous film, Jigsaw's diabolic "games" require a large amount of planning, causing some film critics to liken his murderous schemes to Rube Goldberg machines. Some Christians, again a minority, feel that since "Christmas Trees" are not biblically ordained, they should not be used.

Jigsaw is shown, still sitting in Matthew's van, badly beaten but smiling. The only consistancies with Christmas tree customs seem to be that both are made of wood and both are decorated. Matthews, chained to a pipe, is left in the room alone only with the light from his flashlight and his gun now just out of reach. They would also carry it from place to place as an object to be feared and worshipped. "Game over," she says, iterating Jigsaw's catchphrase. A full study of the passage shows that the people would cut down a tree and work it with a chisel to engrave an image in it. Matthews then watches helplessly as Amanda closes the door on him. In other English translations of the Bible the verses more explicitly refer to the practice of making idols to be worshipped:.

In a series of flashbacks we understand why Jigsaw was happy to sit back while Matthews tore his work up and see that Amanda was the one who brought Daniel back to be placed in the safe. Interpreting those verses as a ban on Christmas trees may be more common among individuals and Christian denominations that are part of the King-James-Only Movement. Playing the tape, Matthews learns that Amanda has become Jigsaw's protégé and has now taken his place. Some Christians, albeit a minority, feel that the practice of having "Christmas Trees" is prohibited by the Book of Jeremiah 10:1-5 which says,. When Matthews wakes up, he finds an audio cassette player lying next to him. A recent campaign spearheaded by conservative Fox News Channel contributors Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity has resulted in a backlash from some Christian groups and individuals who feel the designation "holiday tree" is part of an alleged war on Christmas. He had been there already when the SWAT team came into the building and found Jigsaw, two hours earlier; had Matthews followed the rules to Jigsaw's "game", he would have found his son "in a safe, secure place" just as Jigsaw had told him. The term holiday tree has, since at least 1990 (and perhaps before), been used by some in the United States, Canada and the UK to reflect the winter holiday season instead of any specific religious holiday.

The timer in the room at Wilson Steel expires and a safe across the room opens to reveal Daniel, wearing an oxygen mask, weary but alive. The term comes from the appearance of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree in the TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. The attacker removes the mask, it is Amanda. Some tree buyers intentionally adopt such trees, feeling sympathetic to their plights. Matthews drops to the floor. The term Charlie Brown Christmas tree can be used to described any sad-looking, malformed little tree. He approaches cautiously, but the person inside, wearing the same animal mask from the first film, leaps up and stabs him in the leg with a syringe. President Jimmy Carter only lit the crowning star atop the Tree in 1979 in honor of the Americans being held hostage in Iran; in 1980, the tree was only fully lit for 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity.

Matthews gets into the darkened bathroom, and sees someone lying in the bathtub. Today, the lighting of the National Tree is part of what has become a major holiday event at the White House. A shot of a syringe here explains how Daniel has survived the exposure to gas. The United States' National Christmas Tree is lit each year south of the White House in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Detective Matthews enters through a back door, finds the open trapdoor and goes down to search for Daniel. In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London where the City of Oslo presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the 15 m tall main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, Norway in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation. We now know how Jigsaw was able to say 'I haven't looked at the monitors for a while but I assume [Daniel] is still sitting in a corner...'. In some cities festivals are organised around the decoration and display of multiple trees as charity events.

For Kerry and the movie audience it turns out that, as mentioned above, the images on the monitors, shown in the movie in parallel with the events filmed by the video cameras, were not a live feed, but were showing a recording of earlier events, and that the broadcast location where the SWAT team has arrived is not the location where the events have taken place. Many cities, towns, and department stores put up public Christmas trees outdoors for everyone to enjoy, such as the Rich's Great Tree in Atlanta, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide. While the SWAT team enters what they and Kerry assume to be the same house, Kerry is watching the monitors, confused that the cameras aren't showing them in the house. The "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by Easton, Pennsylvania, where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. He moves in to kill Amanda, Daniel suddenly jumps forward, crushing Xavier's ankle and, using the hacksaw from the first movie, slits Xavier's throat, killing him. Windsor Locks, Connecticut claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House, thus making it the home of the first Christmas tree in New England. Xavier, now insane from the poison, takes his knife and slices a section of skin off the back of his neck. There are several cities in the United States which lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree.

Amanda tells Xavier that Daniel is dead and that if he kills her, he won't be able to find out the number on his own neck. Such patriotic prints of the British royal family at Christmas celebrations helped popularise the Christmas tree in Britain and among the anglophile American upper class. Lawrence Gordon's severed foot are still there, in a state of advanced decay and covered with fungus and mold. Images of the royal family with their Christmas tree at Osborne House were illustrated in English magazines, initially as a woodcut in the Illustrated London News of December 1848, and copied in the United States at Christmas 1850 (illustration, left). The bodies of Adam and Zep, and Dr. The generous Prince Albert also presented large numbers of trees to schools and army barracks at Christmas. He follows them, cornering them in the infamous bathroom from the first movie. In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas-trees is not less than ours used to be".

They go through the hatch just as Xavier breaks through. After her marriage to her German cousin, Prince Albert, the custom became even more widespread. Amanda pushes aside the safe, revealing a trap door underneath. All the presents being placed round the trees...". Amanda and Daniel retreat to the first room as Xavier tries breaking through the door to get at them. Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with the custom, in her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old Princess wrote: "After dinner...we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room...There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. He finds the dead bodies of the victims littered throughout the rooms. In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced by King George III's German Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but did not spread much beyond the royal family.

Matthews gets inside, still believing that the video images were live. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchess of Orleans. Jigsaw gives Matthews the key to get inside. Princess Henrietta von Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. Jigsaw shows Matthews the house in which the events has taken place. In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Almost immediately after this, the police finally locate the broadcast location of the video feed and take off for that location. It was regarded as a Protestant custom by the Catholic majority along the lower Rhine, and was spread there only by Prussian officials who were moved there in the wake of the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

Without telling his team, Matthews leaves with Jigsaw in his van. The Christmas tree remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long time. Xavier reads her number and leaves her to die in the contraption. Wax candles are attested from the late 18th century. She discovers too late that the blades are arranged similar to a Chinese finger trap, preventing her from removing her arms once inside; the edges dig deeper into her flesh the harder she pulls. By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. On the underside of the box are two holes just wide enough to put one's arms through, once pushed past the blades covering them. One Strasbourg priest, Johann Konrad Dannerhauer, complains about the custom as distracting from the word of God.

While pursuing Amanda and Daniel, Xavier comes across Addison who has fallen victim to another of Jigsaw's contraptions - a glass box suspended from the ceiling that contains an antidote. During the 17th century, the custom entered family homes. She goes back to rescue Daniel. The city of Riga, Latvia claims to be home of the first holiday tree, an octagonal plaque in the town square reads "The First New Years Tree in Riga in 1510", in eight different languages. Amanda finds Jonas's body and realizes Xavier means to kill them all. Another early reference is from Basel, where the taylor apprentices carried around town a tree decorated with apples and cheese in 1597. The effects of the toxin are starting to become more severe, and Laura succumbs to the nerve gas. It can be traced to 16th century Germany; Ingeborg Weber-Keller (Marburg professor of European ethnology) identified as the earliest reference a Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small fir was decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers, and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas day.

Addison finds a picture concealing a photo of Daniel and Matthews together, marked "Father and son"; this may make the others hate Daniel for being the son of the cop who framed them all. The modern custom, however, although likely related, cannot be proven to be directly descended from pagan tradition. He kills Jonas by hitting his head with a club with large nails sticking out, and then goes after the others. According to one legend, Saint Boniface attempted to introduce the idea of trinity to the pagan tribes using the cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance. These numbers are supposed to be the combination to the safe in the first room which holds an antidote. According to Adam of Bremen, in Scandinavia the pagan kings sacrificed nine males of each species at the sacred groves every ninth year. The different colors represent colors of the rainbow and putting them in the order of the rainbow will unlock the safe. Among early Germanic tribes the Yule tradition was celebrated by sacrificing male animals and slaves by suspending them on the branches of trees.

It's in the back of all your minds.". Patron trees (for example, the Irminsul, Thor's Oak and the figurative Yggdrasil) held special significance for the ancient Germanic tribes, appearing throughout historic accounts as sacred symbols and objects. In the house, for the movie audience seemingly meanwhile, Xavier has snapped and is trying the kill his fellow captives to retrieve the different colored numbers written on the back of their necks (the answer to Jigsaw's cryptic clue "You all possess the combination. A branch of flowering Glastonbury thorn is still sent annually for the Queen's Christmas table in the United Kingdom. Savagely beaten and battered by Matthews, Jigsaw utters his "Game over," catchphrase and finally agrees to take Matthews to the house, but only if he can take him alone. Medieval legends, nevertheless, tended to concentrate more on the miraculous "flowering" of trees at Christmas time. After growing tired of listening to Jigsaw and helplessly watching one captive after another die while the timer runs down, Matthews finally snaps and unleashes his rage on the old man. In Roman mosaics from what is today Tunisia, showing the mythic triumphant return from India of the Greek god of wine and male fertility, Dionysus (dubbed by some modern scholars as a life-death-rebirth deity), the god carries a tapering coniferous tree.

Daniel helps Amanda out of the pit. The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life. The door's timer expires, sealing the door forever. After the holidays, dead trees can be put to other uses:. He races to the lock but fumbles with it. These tips will ensure the tree will stay fresh for several weeks. Stabbed with dozens of needles, Amanda finally finds it and gives it to Xavier. This tradition seems to be limited mostly to the United States.

Xavier grabs Amanda and throws her into the pit, yelling at her to dig through them to find the key. Flocking can be done with a professional sprayer at a tree lot (or the manufacturer if it is artificial), or at home from a spray can, and either can be rather messy. The message says a key is in the pit that will open a door concealing another antidote. Typically it would be sprayed all over the tree from the sides, which produced a look different from real snow, which settles in clumps atop branches. Daniel pulls back a sheet to reveal a pit full of syringes. In the 1980s some trees were sprayed with fluffy white flocking to simulate snow. On the tape, Jigsaw condemns him for his life as a drug pusher and states that if he wants to escape, he must wallow in the filth that he made others wallow in. A plain mat of fabric or plastic may also be placed under the stand and skirt to protect the floor from scratches or water.

Forcing open a door into another room, the captives find another tape, this one marked for Xavier. Generally, the difference between a mat and skirt is simply that a mat is placed under the tree stand, while a skirt is placed over it, having a hole in the middle for the trunk, with a slot cut to the outside edge so that it can be placed around the tree (beneath the branches) easily. Henceforth, Jigsaw resolved to test the human ability to overcome great suffering in order to save his or her life. As Christmas presents arrive, they are generally placed underneath the tree on the tree skirt (depending on tradition, all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "White Christmas"). However, Jigsaw survived the suicide attempt, despite severe injuries. A nativity scene, model train, or Christmas village may be placed on the mat or skirt. Through a series of flashbacks, Jigsaw is revealed to be a terminal cancer patient, who attempted suicide by driving his car of a cliff. What began as ordinary cloth has now often become much more ornate, some having embroidery or being put together like a quilt.

Matthews is on the verge of cracking, but decided he has no other choice but to hear Jigsaw out. Even when dripless candles, electric lights and artificial trees have been used, a skirt is still usually used as a decorative feature: among other things, it hides the tree stand, which may be unsightly but which is an important safety feature of home trees. All the while, the timer is ticking away in the room with the monitors. Since candles were used to light trees until electric bulbs came about, a mat (UK) or "skirt" (US) was often placed on the floor below the tree to protect it by catching the dripping candle wax, and also to collect any needles that fall. The game is simple, he just has to sit with Jigsaw--by himself--and listen to what he has to say. Many people also decorate outdoor trees with food that birds and other wildlife will enjoy, such as garlands made from unsalted popcorn or cranberries, orange halves, and seed-covered suet cakes. The Jigsaw killer insists that Matthews has to play a game to save his son. Conversely, trees decorated by professional designers for department stores and other institutions will usually have a "theme"; a set of predominant colours, multiple instances of each type of ornament, and larger decorations that may be more complicated to set up correctly.

Obi is burned to death before they can get him out, and both antidotes are lost. Individuals' decorations vary wildly, typically being an eclectic mix of family traditions and personal tastes; even a small unattractive ornament, if passed down from a parent or grandparent, may come to carry considerable emotional value and be given pride of place on the tree. Obi climbs inside to retrieve them, the door closes and the furnace ignites. Baubles are another extremely common decoration, and usually consist of a fairly small hollow glass or plastic sphere coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, and then with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide colouration. Laura finds another door which leads to the basement, with another tape marked for Obi which reveals how he had assisted Jigsaw to get the others in the house and explaining that there are two antidote syringes inside a large furnace in the room. Strands of tinsel may be hung in groups from longer branches to simulate icicles, though this trend has gradually fallen off since the late 1970s. The terrified captives begin to explore the house. Lighting with candles or electric lights (fairy lights) is commonly done, and a tree topper completes the ensemble.

Amanda reveals to the others that she has had to play one of Jigsaw's games before, and pleads with them that they have to follow his "rules". Delicate mould-blown and painted coloured glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of Czech glass factories from the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. The gun discharges into Gus's eye, killing him. Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. The lock is rigged to fire a gun pointing directly at the eyehole. Organically grown Christmas trees are available in some markets, and as with many other crops, are widely held to be better for the environment. The key has a note warning them not to use it to open the door in the room, but Xavier ignores the message, and turns the key in the lock while Gus looks through the eyehole. In some cases management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it involves heavy input of pesticides and herbicides.

Amanda, (a survivor from the original film) breaks through a loose section of a brick wall in the room they found themselves in, and finds a key and a tape recorder containing a taped message from Jigsaw explaining their predicament: they have been exposed to a deadly toxic nerve gas (specifically sarin, which Jigsaw himself references as having been used in the real-life gas attack on the Tokyo Subway) and will die within 2 hours unless they find the antidotes that are hidden around the house (they are given the clue that they all have the combination to the safe in the back of their mind, and that the combination can be found "over the rainbow"). Live trees are typically grown as a crop and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable habitat for wildlife. The story switches to the captives in the house. Real trees also help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere while growing. The police also believe this. Real trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch or used to prevent erosion [2]. However, by showing those images in parallel with the events filmed by the video cameras, the movie suggests that it is a live video feed. Artificial trees can be used for many years, but are usually non-recyclable, ending up in landfills.

The images on the monitors are not a live feed, but are showing a recording of earlier events. Polyethylene trees are less toxic, though more expensive, than PVC trees [1]. He later notices that all other seven are people he has framed for crimes they did not commit. For instance, the bark of a real tree can be used to surface an artificial trunk. On one of the monitors, Matthews sees a room with eight people forced to play Jigsaw's latest game; among them is Matthews's own son, Daniel. A small amount of real-tree material is used in some artificial trees. As they start to take him away, he directs Matthews and the others to an adjoining room, which contains several monitors showing various rooms of a house, along with an electronic timer counting down from 2 hours. Some trees have a warning that dust or leaves from the tree should not be eaten or inhaled.

Very ill due to his advanced stage cancer, he offers no further resistance as the SWAT team handcuffs him. Artificial trees are usually made out of PVC, a toxic material which is often stabilised with lead. After some of the accompanying SWAT team fall prey to one of Jigsaw's booby traps, they find Jigsaw. There is some debate as to whether artificial or real trees are better for the environment. After his initial reluctance, his former partner, Kerry, finally convinces him to join the team entering the building to arrest Jigsaw. Real potted ones are often sold like this, and artificial ones often come with a "root ball" but only sometimes with decorations. Detective Matthews is called to the scene, as the deceased was his informant, and discovers a message scrawled on the ceiling which reads, "Look Closer, Detective Matthews." Matthews spots an engraving on the metal contraption, and believes he knows where Jigsaw is - the Wilson Steel building. A long-standing and simple gimmick is conifer seedlings sold with cheap decorations attached by soft pipe cleaners.

The terrified man fails to extract the key in time and is killed. Past gimmicks include small talking or singing trees, and trees which blow "snow" (actually small styrofoam beads) over themselves, collecting them in a decorative cardboard bin at the bottom and blowing them back up to the top through a tube hidden next to the trunk. As he gets up from the chair, he triggers a timer built into the device. Retailers also claimed that the trees were popular because they allowed larger presents to be placed beneath the trees. A scalpel has been left for the man to carve the key out from his eye socket, if he chooses to do so. Customers then wanted to replicate the inverted tree. The TV cuts to the man lying on an operating table with a shadowy figure standing over him, as Jigsaw tells him (and an x-ray photo confirms) that the key to unlock the device has been implanted behind his eye. They were originally sold as decorations for merchants that allowed customers to get closer to ornaments being sold.

When the timer goes off, the device will snap closed, impaling the man's head with several sharp nails lining the inside of the device (like an iron maiden). In 2005 inverted trees became popular. Jigsaw's recorded message tells the man that as punishment for being a police informant, spying upon and betraying others, and for not appreciating life, he has to play Jigsaw's "game". Some are instead lit partly or completely by fibre optics, with the light in the base, and a rotating colour wheel causing various colours to shimmer across the tree. A nearby TV turns on, showing the familiar "clown" figure Jigsaw employed in the first film. Since the late 1990s, many indoor artificial trees come pre-strung with lights. A device is secured around his neck. Some skyscrapers will tell certain offices to leave their lights on (and others off) at night during December, creating a Christmas tree pattern.

The film starts off with a man waking up alone, seated in a chair in a grungy, sealed room. A few hotels and other buildings, both public and private, will string lights up from the roof to the top of a small tower on top of the building, so that at night it appears as a lit Christmas tree, often using green or other coloured lights.
. These lights are usually white, but often are green, red, red/green, blue/white, blue, or multicoloured, and sometimes with a small controller to fade colours back and forth. . lawns in the 2000s, along with 1990s spiral ones that hang from a central pole, both styles being lighted with standard miniature lights. Darren Lynn Bousman took over the directing duties of the film, and also co-wrote the story's script with Leigh Whannell, the original film's co-writer. Outdoor branched trees made out of heavy white-enameled steel wires have become more popular on U.S.

It was released in most parts of the world on October 28, 2005, but not released in Australia until November 17, 2005. Other artificial trees which look nothing like a conifer except for the triangular or conical shape, are also used as tabletop decorations, such as a stack of ornaments. Saw II is the sequel to the 2004 horror/splatter/thriller film Saw. More recent tinsel trees can be used fairly safely with lights. Made for only $4 million, Saw 2 grossed over $116 million worldwide, which includes $87 million in the United States. They were instead lit by a spotlight or floodlight, often with a motorised rotating color wheel in front of it. One of the posters for the upcoming Scary Movie 4 (2006) parodied the "close-up on severed fingers" poster for this film. They were aluminium-coated paper, meaning that they also posed a great fire hazard if lights were put directly on them (warnings to this effect are still issued with most christmas tree lights).

Following the film's opening weekend gross of $31.5m, Lions Gate Films commissioned Saw III (which is scheduled to be released on October 27, 2006). The first trees which were not green were the metallic trees of the 1950s and 1960s. The entire movie was shot in 25 days. Around 2003, some trees with molded-plastic branches started selling in the U.S.. The whole film was shot in one building. Better trees also have more branch tips, the number usually listed on the box. The original poster was used for most other countries, however. Most of the better trees have branches hinged to the pole, though the less-expensive ones generally still come separately.

A new poster was produced, still using the fingers but not explicitly showing that they're severed. Many trees now come in "slim" versions, to fit in smaller spaces. In August 2005, the MPAA rejected the poster for Saw II which used two severed fingers to resemble "II" in the movie's title. These trees have become a little more realistic every year, with a few deluxe trees containing multiple branch styles. Tagline: Oh yes...there will be blood.. Many also have very short brown "needles" wound in with the longer green ones, to imitate the branch itself or the bases that each group of pine (but not other conifer) needles grows from. Donnie Wahlberg as Erick Matthews. Those first trees looked like long-needled pine trees, but later trees use flat PVC sheets to make the needles.

Emmanuelle Vaugier as Addison. Each row of branches is a different size, colour coded at the base with paint or stickers for ease of assembly. Shawnee Smith as Amanda. The bases of the branches were then twisted together to form a large branch, which was then inserted by the user into a wooden pole (now metal with plastic rings) for a trunk. Glenn Plummer as Jonas. They were made the same way, using animal hair (mainly pig bristles) and later plastic bristles, dyed pine-green colour, inserted between twisted wires that form the branches. Tony Nappo as Gus. The first modern artificial Christmas trees were produced by companies which made brushes.

Beverley Mitchell as Laura. in 1913, in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog. Dina Meyer as Kerry. The first feather trees came to the U.S. Erik Knudsen as Daniel Matthews. Originating in Germany in the 19th century to prevent further deforestation, these "minimalist" trees show off small ornaments very well. Franky G as Xavier. The first artificial trees were tabletop feather trees, made from green-dyed goose feathers wound onto sticks drilled into a larger one, like the branches on a tree.

John Fallon as Video Techie. They may also be necessary for people who have an allergy to conifers, and are increasingly popular in office settings. Tim Burd as Obi. Artificial trees are sometimes even a necessity in some rented homes (especially apartment flats), due to the potential fire danger from a dried-out real tree, leading to their prohibition by some landlords. Tobin Bell as John/Jigsaw. In the U.S., about 70% of trees are now artificial. At the end of the Christmas season artificial trees can be diassembled and stored compactly, but some artificial-tree owners simply store the whole decorated tree covered in a large bag, ready for the next year.

Trees come in a number of colours and "species", and some come pre-decorated with coloured lights. Artificial trees are very popular, particularly in the U.S., where despite their lack of realism (both in looks and scent), they are considered more convenient and (if used for several years) less expensive than real trees. In the UK, The British Christmas Tree Growers Association represents the interests of all those who grow Christmas trees in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms.

The shearing also damages the highly attractive natural symmetry of unsheared trees. European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally-grown, unsheared trees, while in North America (outside much of the Rockies) there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio. These trees must be kept inside only for a few days, as the warmth will bring them out of dormancy, leaving them little protection when put back outside into the midwinter cold in most areas.

However, the combination of root loss on digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health, and the survival rate of these trees is low. Some trees are sold live with roots and soil, often from a nursery, to be planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. Norfolk Island pine is sometimes used, particularly in the Oceania region, and in Australia some species of the genera Casuarina and Allocasuarina are also occasionally used as Christmas trees. The long-needled Eastern White Pine is also used there.

Virginia Pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States, however it has poor winter colour and sharp needles. Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as Giant Sequoia, Leyland Cypress and Eastern Juniper. Several other species are used to a lesser extent. and in North America:.

Commonly used species in northern Europe (including the UK) are:. The best species for use are species of fir (Abies), which have the major benefit of not shedding the needles when they dry out, as well as good foliage colour and scent; but species in other genera are also used. Both natural and artificial trees are used as Christmas trees. In Germany, the Catholic people takes their Christmas trees down by the 2nd of February.

In Europe, private Christmas trees are not usually put up until at least the middle of December and are usually taken down by the 6th of January. In more northern climates and into Canada, the tree (if not too dry) and other decorations are left up well into January. homes is to put the tree up right after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November) and to take it down right after the New Year. The most common tradition in U.S.

Modern commercialisation of Christmas has however resulted in trees being put up much earlier; in shops often as early as late October. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve (24 December), and then removed the day after twelfth night (i.e., 6 January); to have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered bad luck. . It is normally an evergreen coniferous tree that is brought into a home or used in the open, and is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful ornaments during the days around Christmas.

A Christmas tree is one of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas. In coastal areas, trees can be used to protect sand dunes from erosion. Trees can be cut into small pieces and use for mulch or composted; some cities offer this service to their residents. Use the tree as a bean or pea support pole.

Use needles in a sachet. Use your tree as a bird feeder, hanging suet balls or other food from the branches. Place your tree away from heat sources, including radiators and windows that get a lot of direct sunlight. Only use plain water; research shows that additives such as sugar, cola and aspirin do more harm than good.

Check it daily. Make sure your tree has a sturdy Christmas tree stand that holds 4-6 litres of water. This allows the tree to continue taking up water, by removing the resin-soaked wood at the original cut. Just before placing it in the stand, cut 2-3 centimeters off the trunk.

Before taking your tree inside, gently bang the tree on its stump several times to dislodge any loose needles. If possible, the night before decorating, bring the tree into a partially heated area to allow it to adjust gradually to temperature changes. If decoration is not planned immediately, store the tree in a cool environment protected from the sun and wind. When transporting the tree, protect it from wind and road salts by covering it with plastic.

Stone Pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees). Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris. Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii. Red Fir Abies magnifica.

Noble Fir Abies procera. Fraser Fir Abies fraseri. Balsam Fir Abies balsamea. Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris.

Serbian Spruce Picea omorika. Norway Spruce Picea abies (generally the cheapest). Noble Fir Abies procera. Nordmann Fir Abies nordmanniana (as in the photo).

Silver Fir Abies alba (the original species).