Trafalgar Square Authority in conjunction with the charity Unicef, who began ticketing the event to control crowd numbers. A Christmas ceremony has been held in the square every year since 1947. A Norway spruce (or sometimes a fir) is presented by Norway's capital city, Oslo as London's Christmas tree, a token of gratitude for Britain's support during World War II. (Besides war-time support, Norway's Prince Olav and the country's government lived in exile in London throughout the war.) The Christmas tree is decorated with lights that are switched on at a seasonal ceremony. It is usually held twelve days before Christmas Day.
Christmas tree of the oldest references to the Christmas tree: "Note on how to put the Christmas branch, "scilicet": On the Christmas eve, you will look for a large Branch of green laurel, and you shall reap many red oranges, and place them on the branches that come of the laurel, specifically as you have seen, and in every orange you shall put a candle, and hang the Branch by a rope in the pole, which shall be by the candle of the "altar-mor"." The relevance of ancient pre-Christian customs to the 16th-century German initiation of the Christmas tree custom is disputed.