The story of using Christmas tree lightsis a long one and started with the pagans. They used to follow a ritual which is kept alive by the people. The Christians then started adopting the pagan Yule log and brought pine trees to their homes during the winter season around the Christmas time. After this, some years later in the 17th century, the Germans used a combination of lights with the tree which were used to illuminate the candles. People believe that Martin Luther was the person who first introduced the tree installation concept, but a true record is available from 1660 when the people actually started using.
The serious trend then started in the United States, where people started following Germans who were native to the country in the 19th century. These people were located in Pennsylvania, and North Carolina and started using the trees from 1821. After this, Christmas trees started to be used in almost all the German enclaves and also become popular in the entire American continent.
In 1832, a Harvard professor named Charles Follen found illuminating the tree with candles intriguing and started following the German traditions. In 1852, Mark Carr started the first-ever Christmas tree from the Catskill Mountains and sold in New York City’s Washington Market. Then, in 1856, the illuminated Christmas trees became popular among the native people, and President Franklin Pierce supported the ritual by placing the tree in White House during his Government.
Soon, people started realizing that candles could burn the Christmas tree and have several problems. They could not stay in the position for a long time on the branches of the tree. People had to tie the candles with the help of a needle to the branch with a string which could be held with an adhesive to keep them in place. However, this idea was not working for a long time. After this, candleholder was invented and started to be used by the people. However, it would just last for thirty minutes and not more, and people had to keep a close watch on the tree so that there were no casualties. Due to these cause, even the insurance companies started stepping back from giving money to people in case of casualties. They have special clauses for this purpose.
Cut to 1882 near to Christmas, a close friend of Thomas Edison named Edward Johnson who was the Vice President of his company was beaming with ideas for the electrically illuminated tree in his New City Home. He used a string of lights which were hand-wired and available in blue, white, and red light bulbs and were the size of a walnut. These were placed in the motorized box that could be rotated around six minutes every minute. With time, Johnson and Edison started experimenting with the new, improved electric tree lights and in 1890, decided to sell the lights in the market place. The patent was also published on a twenty-eight-page long brochure which contained the description of Edison’s miniature lamps which could be put on the Christmas tree. After this, they started placing ads in popular magazines and started getting a great response.
However, this is just one side of the story. If we go by the religious values lights symbolize the following in Christianity:
Symbolise night full of stars when Jesus Christ was born:
There is a certain section of people who think that the lights are a representation of the Star of Bethlehem, which is marked as a sign of the birth of Christ.The symbolism of the divine light of Christ:
Among Christians, candles are a symbol for Jesus bringing light to earth during the darkest of times. However, a certain section of people believes that the lights are a symbolism of the divinity of Jesus, which is the center of attention during Christmas. Different colored candles hold a different significance where the white candle represents purity, while pink represents joy.
Symbolism of hope and good in the world:
The Christmas lights are a firm reminder that Christians are following the path of light and Christ. The path of the light that winds around the tree and leads the star to the top symbolizes the path to enlightenment and then to salvation. Many people can have many believe, but the spirit of Christmas remains true for each one of them. Celebrate the joy with your loved ones and enjoy the festivities with full zeal. You can find a wide variety of Christmas lights these days and can use them to decorate the trees in interesting patterns. Also, styling the Christmas trees according to the décor has become common these days. You should to come up with your own ideas to decorate the tree in the best possible manner and share the joy with your loved ones. Get your handful of Christmas tree lights online at whitestores.co.uk.