Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

The First Tree

맥컬리 컬킨의 나홀로 집에..라는 영화가 있었다. 영화 종반부에 엄마를 재회하는 장면이 있는데
그때 그 장소가 록펠러 센터의 크리스마스 트리 앞이다. 미국인들에게 록펠러 센터의 크리스마스 트리는
크리스마스의 가장 큰 메타포어가 아닐까 싶다.
이 트리는 약 80년 전부터 등장하기 시작했다.

The first tree debuted at Rockefeller Center on Christmas Eve, 1931. The tree, erected by construction workers
eager to receive a day’s pay in the depths of the Depression, stood only 20 ft. tall — a quarter of the size of this year’s holiday specimen.

The $1.5 Million Star

최초의 록펠러 트리는 깡통과 구겨진 종이를 이용해 장식한 소박한 것이었다. 지금은 어떨까?
스와로브스키에서 협찬하는 꼭대기의 별만 해도 150만불에 달한다.
참고로..크리스마스 트리의 꼭대기에는 별을 세우는 것이 원칙이다.
탄생과 축복의 의미이기 때문에. 서울시청 앞의 트리에는 늘 십자가를 세우는데..
그것은 죽음과 부활을 의미한다. 아마 우리나라가 유일하게 그런 트리를 세울 듯.

In 1931, tin cans and scrap paper were used to adorn the tree — appropriate decorations for Depression-era America.
Then came garlands and glass. Colored lights and ornaments in the shape of dogs and sailboats made their appearance in 1934.
A 4-ft. plastic star, a white spray-painted tree and 10-ft.-long aluminum icicles were staples of the 1950s. The 1990s took it up a notch
with a gold-leaf star. But that was nothing compared to the 550-lb. Swarovski star unveiled in 2009. Created specifically for the tree
and standing 10 ft. tall, the estimated $1.5 million star is made of 25,000 crystals and 1 million facets.

The Tree Goes Black

이 트리는 미국의 안녕과 풍요를 상징한다.
세계 2차대전이 세계를 휩쓸 때에는 불을 켜지 않은 채 크리스마스를 지새웠다.

One of the most spectacular features of the tree every year is its nighttime glow. But in 1944, the Christmas trees
(yes, three trees, in fact) remained unlit. The backstory is that two years earlier, Rockefeller Center unveiled three small trees
dedicated to the U.S. effort in World War II — each one either red, white or blue. The patriotic trees were replanted over the next
couple of years, but in 1944, in line with wartime blackout regulations, the trees stayed dark. When the war ended in 1945, the organizers
made up for lost time and used six ultraviolet-light projectors to make all 700 fluorescent globes on that year’s tree appear to glow in the dark.

A Television Debut

전통에 목마른 미국이라서 그럴지도 모르지만 록펠러 트리에 쏟아지는 관심은 점차 국가적 행사로 굳어져갔다.
1950년대부터는 점등식 행사를 TV중계하기 시작한다.

In 1951, the tree made its first appearance on television when the lighting ceremony was shown on The Kate Smith Show.
Two years later, it became a special each year on The Howdy Doody Show until 1955. With the tree’s appearance on television,
the 1950s also saw the emergence of more and more elaborate decorations. In 1953, 6,000 icicle lights and giant floodlights
illuminated the tree, and just a year later, white angel trumpeters were added.

The Search for the Perfect Tree

마치 남대문이나 광화문 보수공사 때 쓰이는 금강송처럼, 록펠러 트리를 만드는데 쓰이는 나무도 큰 괌심을 불러 일으킨다.
초창기에는 록펠러 재단이 나무를 기증해 왔지만 때로 개인이 혹은 국가가(특히 캐나다가 끼어보려고 노력했다)
나무를 제공하기도 했다.
지금은 록펠러 재단이 헬리콥터를 동원해 뉴잉글랜드로부터 나무를 공수한다.

On several occasions, the tree has been donated to Rockefeller Center. In 1956, for example, a New Hampshire man gave a white
spruce to New York’s governor, who handed it over to the tree’s organizers. Ten years later, the nation of Canada decided to give over one
of their trees. But most of the time, it has been purposefully sought out. For a long while, David Murbach, who was the center’s garden manager
before he passed away late last year, used to rent a car and take scenic drives through New England in order to find the finest specimen.
More recently, though, Rockefeller Center’s crew has taken a helicopter into New England to locate the perfect tree from aloft.

The Climbing

무엇이든 대중의 관심을 받으면 부작용이 생긴다. 지금까지 그 높은 록펠러 트리를 기어올라간 사람들이 있었는데,
한번은 정치적 목적으로, 한번은 재미로 그랬다.

Most Rockefeller Center trees endure a largely uneventful Christmas season. Admired from afar, they sometimes serve as the backdrop
for tourists’ photos, but that’s pretty much it. However, in 1979 the Rockefeller tree became part of a political protest when a 27-year-old man
scaled it and began shouting “Free the 50!” — referring to the Americans who were then being held hostage (see photo) at the U.S.
embassy in Iran. He came down when police officers pointed out that climbing a Christmas tree would not help free the hostages.
Another man tried to climb the tree in 1980, but he offered no motive for his actions. Apparently he just thought it would be fun.

Taking the Trees into the City

그 커다란 나무를 뉴욕시내 한복판으로 옮겨 세우는 것도 큰 일이다.
그래서 보통 밤부터 새벽에 거쳐 그 작업을 진행하는데 꼭대기 부분은 미리 장식을 해서 세운다.

Because they’re so big — and New York City so traffic-jammed — the Rockefeller Center Christmas trees travel into the city at night,
when fewer cars are on the road. Each tree’s uppermost branches are decorated before it is raised into a standing position.
And the tree doesn’t require watering: because it’s outside, the behemoth doesn’t dry out the way that smaller indoor Christmas trees do.

The Tallest Tree

록펠러 트리는 평균적으로 20미터 이상의 나무로 만들어진다.
올해는 23미터쯤 되는 것 같은데 역대 최고는 1999년도에 세워진 노르웨이 전나무였다. 무려 30미터!

These days, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree usually stands no less than 65 ft. tall (this year it’s 74 ft. tall).
The 1999 display boasted the tallest tree, a Norway spruce that stood over 100 ft. tall. Because the tree must maneuver
through narrow city streets, it most likely won’t ever be much larger than that. The Norway spruce has been New York City’s tree of choice since 1982.

Going Greener

크리스마스가 끝나면 록펠러 트리는 어떻게 될까? 환경 문제가 대두되면서 록펠러 트리는 봉사단체가 집을 지을때
목재로 쓰이거나 가로수의 덮개로 활용하고 있다. 2007년부터는 3만여 개의 전구가 모두 저전력 LED 전구로 바뀌었다.

You wouldn’t think that a tree could go more green than it already is. But with environmental concerns gaining traction in the 1960s
and 1970s, Rockefeller Center began recycling its tree after Christmas. In 1971, it turned the tree into 30 three-bushel bags of mulch
for nature trails in upper Manhattan. In 2005, Habitat for Humanity used wood from that year’s tree to make door frames for its homes.
By 2007, the tree’s organizers had switched to all energy-saving LED lights, some 30,000 of them. The new bulbs used 1,200 kilowatt
hours less electricity per day — enough to power a 2,000 sq.-ft. home for an entire month.

The Newest One

올해 간택된(?) 나무는 약 23미터의 높이와 12톤의 무게를 자랑한다.
나무의 주인이었던 소방관 피터는 오랫동안 정들었던 나무에게 아쉬운 작별을 고해야 했다.

The 2010 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands 74 ft. tall and weighs 12 tons.
Before this holiday season, it lived in Mahopac, N.Y. — in the side yard of New York City firefighter Peter Acton,
who said he was sorry to see his beloved evergreen go.