Although most varieties of Plätzchen appeared in the 19th century to decorate the Christmas tree, cinnamon stars were not originally associated with Christmas and date back to the 16th century at the latest. There are mentions that in 1536 the Emperor of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was served "delicious" cinnamon stars when visiting Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio. Cinnamon in those days was an extremely expensive spice: in 1530 the Augsburg merchant Anton Fugger decided to demonstrate his wealth to the emperor by burning Charles V's promissory notes on a fire made of cinnamon sticks. Source: Wikipedia