The Sad Fate of Dutch Christmas Trees
During the month of December the faithful Christmas tree is the central symbol of the festive season. They stand proudly in our living rooms, our town squares and our shopping centers, declaring to all that it is the season of goodwill and peace. We decorate them lovingly with bright lights, glittering tinsel and festive baubles. We gather around them on Christmas morning to open the presents that have been left under their caring branches by Father Christmas. They help bring joy, love and harmony to the season.
Then, in the early weeks of the new year, after an entire month of faithful service and without warning, they are stripped of their decorations and thrown out on to the street. It must come as quite a shock to the tree.
All over the country Christmas trees are suddenly left to fend for themselves, which is quite difficult lacking roots, nearby soil and the simple fact that they are trees. Yes, there is nothing sadder than the fate of a Dutch Christmas tree in early January.
Some people might mock artificial Christmas trees for their lack of real pine needles and inability to photosynthesize. However, at least they get to live in the safe security of the attic once their time in the spotlight is over. They can rest, safe in the knowledge that they will return the following December to their place of pride and festive cheer. Unfortunately, they are unable to appreciate this due to the fact that they are artificial trees.
Now, I know what you are thinking. “But Stuart,” you are thinking, “I read somewhere that real Christmas trees are placed on huge bonfires on New Year’s Day in The Netherlands. They are not left out on the streets like homeless trees.”
Yes, that was true. Real Christmas trees could at least look forward to the end of their lives ushering in another celebration as they were thrown onto a giant Christmas tree bonfire to mark the arrival of the New Year. It was an end with meaning. An end with dignity. Sadly that end has been robbed from them. Large Christmas tree bonfires like the one in Amsterdam have been cancelled because they were getting too big and too dangerous (which was kind of proven by this New Year’s Eve multiple firenadoes in
Scheveningen).Â
Now Christmas trees are left out on the street and ignored by passersby. All they can do is wait for their final journey to the rubbish heap as they shed their needles. If you see one of these poor Christmas trees on your travels spare it a thought. There is nothing sadder than the fate of a Dutch Christmas tree in early January.
That’s not all. In Amsterdam at least I’ve seen these trees getting collected from the street by a crew with a large grinding machine that can ingest an entire tree in a matter of seconds and spit sawdust onto a bag. That’s the saddest of all endings…
I wonder what they do with the sawdust.
There are some fun donation options though! My favorite is donating the tree to a zoo, like Amersfoort Zoo, so that animals can play with them:
(link in Dutch): https://dierenparkamersfoort.nl/lever-je-kerstboom-in/
Elephants at the Artis Zoo got part of the huge tree that was at the Dam in Amsterdam (link also in Dutch): https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/2999280/olifanten-genieten-van-kerstboom-dam
That’s such a cool idea. I bet the animals love it.
This is the first time I experienced this and honestly I was a bit shocked…..
It’s weird when you see all the trees on the street everywhere.
That is a sad sight. Not my tree though. I adopted it so I can have the same tree next year. Great concept, and environment-friendly! (adopteereenkerstboom.nl)
That’s a cool idea. I guess it gets replanted then?
Exactly! More than 90% of trees survive to be reused the next year.
What is this Schevenning you speak of? Scheveningen I’ve heard. That is the city name people who aren’t Dutch won’t ever pronounce correctly. And yeah, they sure did have some firenadoes this year:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6546485/Firenadoes-spring-winds-whip-giant-150ft-New-Years-bonfire-burns-control.html
Oops. And there is a story that they used the name to find out German spies during World Ward II (since they couldn’t say it write). I guess that means I would suck as a spy.
In many places in the United States the Boy Scouts collect the trees for a small donation and haul it to the compost station, where they are ground up for use in gardens.
This is such a sad fate! I know some of them are being re-purposed but most of them end up sad and lonely next to the garbage bins. I’m all for the artificial Christmas trees! I personally have a big house plant that replaces the tree, I decorate it for a few years already now. I tried to buy small trees in pots and keep them on the balcony after, but all of them died after maximum one year :(
In my town (Monnickendam and Marken as well) they still burn them! :)
We have ours with roots. Who to contact to replant it ??
I’m afraid I don’t know but I have seen a few get secretly replanted in our local park :D
We live on a boat in Amsterdam, which gets surrounded by floating xmas trees having been blown into the canal. Even sadder methinks.