A Christmas tree decorated with glitter, candy canes, and Christmas baubles is a yearly image in most western homes during the festive period. While trees are decorated in increasingly interesting fashions one mainstay is the humble Christmas Bauble. In this article, we stop and take a look at where and when this tradition began.
The history of the bauble goes back to Germany where natural decorations such as nuts and fruit were used to decorate trees after their leaves had shed as a reminder that spring would return again. The word “bauble” translates as a trinket or a child’s toy most likely came from the “pretty” in Latin. It’s not known for certain who first decorated a Christmas tree. But the tradition goes back to the 16th Century in Germany.
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas.
Christmas Baubles, with their round shape, are thought to have come about as an evolution of the traditional shape of fruits. By 1910 more than a thousand Woolworths stores across America were selling Christmas ornaments. Christmas decorations have been a huge worldwide business ever since. From shopping malls in Thailand to hotels in Japan, Christmas is celebrated across the world.
The custom was developed in Central Europe, particularly Germany and Livonia (now Estonia and Latvia), where Protestant Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. The tree was traditionally decorated with “roses made of coloured paper. Click here for Xmas decoration ideas.
Christians began to illuminate Christmas trees with candles, which were often replaced by Christmas lights after houses introduced electricity. Today, there is a wide variety of traditional and modern ornaments, such as garlands, baubles, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star might be placed at the top of the tree to represent the Angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem.
The Christmas Tree tradition transplanted to the United States as people migrated to the new world, where new creations were added to the tree – silver foil, coloured strings, along with paper decorations and candles were used to decorate the pine trees to help people celebrate the festive period in their homes.
Glassdecorations date back to the 1600s Germany in the town of Lauscha, where glass beads were designed to be hung on trees – the fashion caught on and soon glass ornaments in the shape of fruit and nuts were being crafted, painted, and topped with a hook to enable them to be hung on Christmas trees.
Nowadays Christmas shoppers can choose from mass-produced Christmas Baubles to high-end models constructed from glass, silver, gold, or crystal. There is a collector’s market for rare and unusual Christmas decorations. Christmas decorations come in all shapes and sizes but there is still nothing like the classic Christman bauble when it comes to decorating a tree.
