Christmas has always been a celebration of mid winter ( more specifically the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere,) as far back as records go there has always been some variety of taking a evergreen tree as a symbol of the return of the sun. Red might be part of the evergreens berries (holly), but mostly it’s because coca cola advertised with a picture of St Nicklaus dressed in their corporate colours, instead of the traditional green.
Christmas has always been a celebration of mid winter ( more specifically the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere,) as far back as records go there has always been some variety of taking a evergreen tree as a symbol of the return of the sun. Red might be part of the evergreens berries (holly), but mostly it’s because coca cola advertised with a picture of St Nicklaus dressed in their corporate colours, instead of the traditional green.
The Coca-Cola thing is just a widespread myth. Red was already used for Santa and Christmas in general before Coca-Cola’s ads.