The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is a gift from Norway

On the first Thursday in December, a huge Christmas tree is lit in London’s Trafalgar Square, radiating its Yuletide joy in all directions. What you might not know, is that the tree has travelled all the way from Oslo. Yes, in Norway.

The odyssey of this one single tree would seem exceptional – if it weren’t so commonplace. At about four tonnes and thirty metres high, the tree is merely the latest addition in a long and green tradition that started way back in 1947.

During the Second World War, Great Britain was Norway’s closest ally. The Norwegian king and government fled to London when our country was occupied, and it was from there that much of Norway’s resistance work was organised.

Both the BBC and its Norwegian counterpart NRK broadcast in Norwegian from London, something that was both an important source of information and a morale boost for those who remained in Norway, where people would listen in secret in fear of the strict Nazi ban on radios.

After the war, Norway began sending a Christmas tree to London every year as a thank you. Here’s what that looked like the first time, in 1947.

And here’s the 2018 edition:

A few years back, The Guardian journalist Christian House travelled in the opposite direction to join the hunt for the Christmas tree and experience everything the snow-covered forest area surrounding Oslo, known as Oslomarka, has to offer.

“It feels truly wild, populated with moose, lynx, roe deer, and even the odd wolf,” he writes.

“A half-frozen lake cracks and creaks, cubist rock forms jut out of the earth, and in every direction legions of pines dissolve into the white haze.”

He meets head forester Jon Christiansen, whose team scours the forests for worthy pines which are then “groomed like X Factor hopefuls” to secure optimal growth.

“We mark it and we tend to them through the years,” Christiansen told The Guardian.

“The most important thing is to clear the space around it, so it gets light from all angles.”

When the job of growing, cutting, and shipping the tree is done, plenty of work still remains before it can be lit, as you can see in this time lapse video:

If you’re visiting Oslo and want a preview of what could be next year’s tree, a hike through Nordmarka is highly recommended. And while you explore the picturesque outskirts of Oslo (just a 20-minute metro ride from the centre), you should also visit both Frognerseteren and the top of the Holmenkollen ski jump, a view House describes as “almost spiritual”.