Written by Dohne Damons
Long before there was electricity, Christmas lights were used as a decorative feature to mark the holiday.
With rolling blackouts, we seem to be moving back in time rather than forward but as South Africans, the optimism of the glass being half full becomes our superpower. This is not pre-empting an electricity-deprived Christmas, but it does raise the question of what would be an alternative solution.
The history of the Christmas light is not a time that should be relived, but it does spark curiosity for the reason why we use Christmas lights.
So how is it that before there was electricity there were still Christmas lights?
Way back in the day when things were different and technology was nowhere near what we experience presently, the Christmas tree was decorated with lit candles. This dates to early 1660. The most well-known story is that a man named Martin Luther used candles on evergreens to light his path home while he wrote a sermon. The experience inspired him to set up a tree in his home and wire-lit candles on it for his family to enjoy.
Germany is credited for practicing the tradition and taking it to America where the first retail Christmas tree business opened in 1851.
Tradition maintained the use of lit candles to decorate trees even though electricity was already invented. This happened because the Christmas tree light did not exist, and infrastructure was limited.
Eventually, an increase in accidental fires because of candle-lit trees forced an alternative solution and the invention of the Edison miniature lamp for Christmas trees happened.Festive season safety every family should know
The lamps were not affordable because they had to be hand-wired and powered and it would not be until 1903 when the first pre-wired string of lights with a screw-in electric socket was created that more had access to it.
