Tree Dressing Day falls on the first weekend of December each year. Although initiated only a few years ago by the charity Common Ground, the celebration draws on many traditions from cultures all round the world, which involve decorating significant and special local trees with a variety of materials. Tree Dressing Day is an opportunity to celebrate and raise awareness about local trees, and so encourage people to become more committed to caring for their local environment. The celebration can include ideas from many different cultures, and involve schools, artists, sculptors, story tellers, dancers and environmentalists, as well as local authority tree officers, tree surgeons, lighting experts and local businesses. Depending on the type of event and the materials used, the tree can remain dressed for up to a month, with the decorations removed around Twelfth night (January 6). The ceremony has been taken up enthusiastically in many parts of Britain, with 27 London Boroughs taking part in 1992, the outer boroughs creating a ‘ring of light’ of dressed and lit trees around the capital.
Information and ideas are available from Common Ground on all aspects of tree dressing. Dressing of street or park trees must involve the local authority, and any dressing which involves ladders or climbing in large trees must be done by suitably trained people. Insurance must cover the ‘dressers’ and the general public for the duration of the event. Common Ground can advise on the suitability of different materials, safe fixing and other practical aspects of tree dressing, and have many inspiring examples of dressed trees and events. Start planning well in advance, probably in early spring, for a large-scale event the following December. Equally enjoyable events can be run on a smaller scale, perhaps involving a local school or group dressing a privately-owned garden tree. For further advice contact Common Ground. See Brixton project.
