Origins and Tradition
– The custom of using lights for decoration during the Christmas season dates back to when Christmas trees were decorated with candles.
– Christmas trees were first brought into homes by Christians in early modern Germany.
– Electric lights on Christmas trees became popular in the early 20th century.
– The tradition of displaying strings of electric lights along streets and buildings started in the mid-20th century.
– The Advent candlestick with four candles is a symbol of the wait for the arrival of Jesus, with one more candle lit for each of the four Sundays before Christmas.
– Leaving up Christmas decorations until Candlemas Day, which falls on February 2nd, is considered a tradition in some cultures.
– The Christmas tree, which became popular among German Lutherans in the 18th century, is often decorated with lights to symbolize the light of Christ.
Global Adoption
– Christmas lights have been adopted in many countries, including Japan and Hong Kong.
– In many countries, Christmas lights are traditionally erected on or around the first day of Advent.
– The two traditional days for removing Christmas lights in the Western Christian world are Twelfth Night and Candlemas.
– Taking down decorations before Twelfth Night or leaving them up beyond Candlemas is considered inauspicious.
– Christmas lights have spread throughout Christendom.
History and Innovations
– The Christmas tree was first used by Lutheran Christians in the 16th century.
– German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree into their homes.
– Candles were used to symbolize Jesus as the Light of the World.
– In the 18th century, upper-class homes in Germany started decorating Christmas trees with candles.
– Early electric Christmas lights were introduced in the late 19th century.
– General Electric manufactured the first commercially produced Christmas tree lamps in the late 19th century.
– The use of Christmas lights in average households became widespread in the mid-1950s.
United States
– The first electrically illuminated Christmas tree was created in New York City in 1882.
– Electric Christmas lights became popular in businesses by 1900.
– The first electrically lit Christmas tree in the White House was sponsored by President Grover Cleveland in 1895.
– The first recorded use of outdoor Christmas lights on trees occurred in San Diego in 1904.
– McAdenville, North Carolina claims to have invented the tradition of decorating evergreen trees with Christmas lights in 1956.
Technology, Troubleshooting, and Displays
– Christmas lights are also known as fairy lights or twinkle lights.
– Common lamp types used in Christmas lighting include incandescent light bulbs and LEDs.
– Troubleshooting methods for incandescent Christmas lights include one-by-one bulb replacement or using a test light to find interruptions in voltage.
– The LightKeeper Pro is a tool specifically designed for troubleshooting Christmas lights.
– Christmas lights are used to decorate public venues and buildings during the holiday season.
– Neighborhoods also participate in outdoor displays, with houses outlined with weatherproof Christmas lights.
– Driving or walking around neighborhoods to see Christmas lights is a popular holiday pastime.
– Lights are produced for holidays other than Christmas, such as Halloween and Easter.
– Over 20 million pounds of discarded holiday lights are shipped to Shijiao, China annually for recycling.
– Light sculptures, also called motifs, are used as Christmas decorations. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_lights
Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom goes back to when Christmas trees were decorated with candles, which symbolized Christ being the light of the world. The Christmas trees were brought by Christians into their homes in early modern Germany.
Christmas trees displayed publicly and illuminated with electric lights became popular in the early 20th century. By the mid-20th century, it became customary to display strings of electric lights along streets and on buildings; Christmas decorations detached from the Christmas tree itself. In the United States and Canada, it became popular to outline private homes with such Christmas lights in tract housing starting in the 1960s. By the late 20th century, the custom had also been adopted in other nations, including outside the Western world, notably in Japan and Hong Kong. It has since spread throughout Christendom.
In many countries, Christmas lights, as well as other Christmas decorations, are traditionally erected on or around the first day of Advent. In the Western Christian world, the two traditional days when Christmas lights are removed are Twelfth Night and Candlemas, the latter of which ends the Christmas-Epiphany season in some denominations. Taking down Christmas decorations before Twelfth Night, as well as leaving the decorations up beyond Candlemas is historically considered to be inauspicious.
