I am old enough to remember that when I was a child there were no Christmas lights in the cities, at least until the early 50s. In Germany, where I was born and raised, candles were used inside houses and torches or lanterns outside. On windowsills, people would often place handmade wooden Christmas decorations with candles to lighten up the darkness of the night. Even the Christmas tree was strictly decorated with candles that were lit only on the evening of Christmas Eve, as per tradition in Germany.
In the mid-60s I moved to Italy, and once married, I designed and built our own family tree. It was made of green wooden strips, that had a hole in the center and were crossed on an iron stick. Every Christmas since then we’ve been assembling our handmade tree. It is decorated with candles, various wooden, straw and clay ornaments and has been in use for more than 50 years now! According to our tradition we light it on Christmas Eve and sometimes even on the evening of the Epiphany, if the candles have not been consumed before. You can see it lit in this photo.
Among the many Christmas decorations in Germany there are also these "Weihnachtspyramiden" (Christmas pyramids) that were characteristic of Silesia, the area where I was born. It is a densely forested region, so wood was a material available to everyone. The large propellers, which are set in motion by the heated air that the candles produce, spin a two or sometimes three-story construction hinged on a central stick. Figurines of the Holy Family, and of the shepherds with the sheep are placed on the floors while at the very top there are the angels. These Weihnachtspyramiden are a small version of the nativity scene. Here you can see one of our Weihnachtspyramiden. Originally it was made of unfinished wood, but my husband wanted to color it and I must say that it turned out very well.
For Christianity light has always been a symbol of God's presence and so it is not surprising that during Christmas time lights are such a common decoration. But the Christmas period also coincides with the winter solstice, when you reach and then overcome the longest night of the year. Decorative lights then also celebrate the return to this new light of day.
Many years ago, when we visited California, where our daughter Emanuela lives with her family, we saw that someone took the Christmas light idea to a whole new level…