The festive lights all around us this Christmas, remind us of times past when there were no electric sockets or batteries. In those days, our forebears decorated their Christmas trees with flickering candles, to represent light coming into the world. However, our short history of Christmas lights on trees actually begins in Germany centuries earlier.
The Early History of Lights on Christmas Trees
Folk in Germany began putting trees in their churches on Christmas Day in 1539. Later, they started adding lighted candles to the trees, as symbols of new hope. In those days their churches were lit with flickering candles and lamps every night. So perhaps the trees made the Christmas candles stand out.
By 1850, wealthier Germans could afford to put candles on Christmas trees in their homes. We understand they held these in place with melted candle wax and pins. But we can’t recommend anybody, even adults, try this for themselves, because this is not a school experiment.
The next phase in our short history of Christmas lights, begins after electricity arrived in North American homes in the late nineteenth century. Families began using small candle holders for their Christmas lights, and adding small lanterns and glass beads, according to Wikipedia.
The Birth of Electric Christmas Tree Lights
A pal of Thomas Edison’s, Edward Johnson who gave him his first job, ordered the first electric Christmas tree lights in 1882. These were a string of eighty hand-wired ‘walnut-size’ incandescent bulbs, in alternating colors of red, white and blue.
President Grover Cleveland must have been impressed, for the 1895 White House Christmas tree boasted a hundred multi-colored electric lights. It was not long before General Electric began producing strings of eight sockets for miniature two-candela-strength carbon-filament lamps.
And there, alas, we must end our short history of Christmas lights for now. It’s time to post this blog, and retire to bed late on Christmas Eve. When you awake on Christmas morning we’ll be here for you, to wish you and yours Merry Christmas on this special day, of all days.
More Information
The Great American Christmas Tree Light Story
Christmas Decorations Down the Ages
