The National Christmas Tree Association has officially recognised that the first Christmas tree was decorated in Riga in 1510. This year people all over the world are celebrating the 500th anniversary of this Christmas symbol.

In order to commemorate this jubilee, Riga is holding many events, for example, Christmas tree trail, Christmas fairs with Santa Claus, special exhibitions in museums with the themet – “The Christmas tree is everywhere!”
 
Along with the National Christmas Tree Association, Riga as the birthplace of Christmas tree is recognised by other organisations. Latvia's neighbours – the Estonians had claimed that the first tree was actually decorated in Tallinn in 1441, yet no indisputable documents were provided.

While competing for the status of the first Christmas tree's birthplace, sometimes harsh words were said about Latvians in Estonia. "Every proper Estonian knows that the world's first Christmas tree was erected in Tallinn, but that Grinch-of-a-neighbor, Latvia, is trying to steal the claim to fame," Estonian National Broadcasting company ERR announced recently. At last, the dispute appears to be resolved. Latvian PM Valdis Dombrovskis and Estonian PM Andrus Ansip have agreed on the tradition to be born in Old Livonia. It was a rather independent area under the Holy Roman Empire's rule from 1225 to 1561, encompassing Estonia's southern part and Latvia's present districts Vidzeme and Latgale.

The Riga Tourism Development Bureau, in cooperation with Riga's House of Blackheads, recently gave an old-style-decorated Christmas tree to Tallinn and its House of Blackheads.

However, the National Christmas Tree Association admits that there is still no much information about the first Christmas tree in Riga. It was erected on the market square and decorated by members of the Brotherhood of Blackheads. The men wore black hats and burnt the tree during the ceremony. According to legend, the first Christmas tree was decorated with paper flowers. Martin Luther is also quite often associated with the ornamentation tradition of Christmas trees. He is said to put candles on the tree to make it look the same as at moonlight. Historians, however, assume that this happened many decades later.