Like many Christmas traditions the Christmas tree was borrowed from paganism. There are some stories that lead one to believe that the Christmas tree started as a Christian symbol such as the myth that Queen Victoria’s husband brought a Christmas tree into their home to celebrate the birth of their first son. Another story claims Saint Boniface used a fir tree to symbolize the holy trinity and people thought of the tree as belonging to God. These stories are widely challenged as history shows that the Christmas tree predates Christianity in the pagan world. Pagans held evergreen trees in high regard because they were able to stay green and produce fruit during the winter months. Evergreens often symbolized triumph over death and for the Druids represented eternal life. The use of spruce and fir trees likely originated as part of the winter solstice celebration of German tribes. Christmas trees came to the western world with German settlers that were staying in America during the Revolutionary War. Starting in 1832 Christmas trees could be found across the U.S. but were still not widely accepted. Christmas was banned by Puritans and by 1900 while many towns had a community tree few homes had their own Christmas tree. By the 1930s Christmas trees became entwined with American tradition.