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Waitrose is selling Easter Trees and people want to burn them

"Taking the piss now"

Waitrose is selling Easter Trees and people want to burn them
24 February 2017

You know what you need as you get over the PTSD of Christmas? Another tree to buy, decorate, leave in your living room for way too long before chucking it in the bin and wondering whether it was worth it. 

Say hello to the Easter Tree, courtesy of Waitrose

Steve Dresser, who appears to have the enviable job of walking around supermarkets and critiquing them, was baffled by the appearance of the leafless, LED lit trees on the shelves:

Standing at two feet tall and setting you back £15, people called for them to be sent to the sun: 

While others said they’d been doing it for years:

Meanwhile, Europeans are rolling their eyes into the back of their heads at us, because they’ve been doing it for bloody ages. 

Pub trivia: Christmas trees became a December staple in Britain around 1840, when Queen Victoria’s German-born husband, Albert, brought the German tradition over (they’d been doing it since the 1500s). Easter trees are also a German tradition, but one that wasn’t brought over here.

The custom is found mostly in Germany and Austria, but also in other German-influenced places such as Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary

They do appear to primarily appeal to your mum (case and point, Martha Stewart did a whole thing on them), but decorate them with Creme Eggs instead of egg-shaped baubles and we may finally unite the country on the issue of Europe.