How Upside-Down Christmas Trees Became This Year’s Holiday Trend

The hottest trend this holiday season isn’t a new toy or something related to fashion. Instead, what’s all the rage this year can be interpreted as either a remix of the original or a returning to roots, depending on your historical view. Yes, we’re discussing the upside-down Christmas trees. You might have seen them in department stores or hotel lobbies or even your daughter’s house.

The French have a cheeky sense of holiday humor. Upside down Christmas tree = 2017. Joyeux Noel to all and to all a good night. Merci to @GerardAraud for a fabulous fête pic.twitter.com/E0aKrxapUZ

— Suzanne Kianpour (@KianpourWorld) December 6, 2017

The upside-down Christmas tree is exactly why I don't bother to keep up with trends – it looks ridiculous 🙃 pic.twitter.com/6ALgFhVmul

— emily (@itsemilyhill) November 27, 2017

The benefits of the upside-down tree, especially for stores keen on selling their products, is that more ornaments and decorations rest at eye level. No straining your neck to peer child’s crude yet cute ornament they made in 5^th grade or your favorite pop culture memorabilia. It also doesn’t crowd perhaps limited floor space and allows you to move more freely around a room. Worth mentioning as well—it’s very 2017, the weirdest, wackiest year to be alive in some time.

• Related Story: 7 Christmas Tree Alternatives That Will Make The Holiday Weird

But according to The Spruce, the upside-down also has historical context.

Via The Spruce:

Hanging fir trees upside down goes back to the Middle Ages, when Europeans did it to represent the Trinity. But now, Christmas trees are shaped with the tip pointing to heaven, and some think an upside-down Christmas tree is disrespectful or sacrilegious.

Inevitably, this new fad has been used as a liberal symbol of the ongoing “War on Christmas.” As an exasperated Corey Lewandowski touted on Fox & Friends last month, it’s like we’re living in the Bizarro World from Seinfeld.

https://twitter.com/MelsLien/status/934052913181286401

Honestly all that will happen is you’ll see these pop up on social feeds and maybe at an avant-garde Christmas party. Otherwise, Grandmas is trotting out the traditional standby same as every year. Some things never change.