Christmas decorations

Dressed up Christmas trees as a home attribute of Christmas appear in the first half of the 17th century in Germany and the Baltic states . The first decorations were simple enough and followed Christian symbolism: the star of Bethlehem served as a finisher , apples were hung on the branches as a symbol of fruits from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil , candles were strengthened and lit as symbols of angelic purity. As traditions became established as intended for children, decorations became more complicated, artificial decorations, sweets and nuts began to be hung on the tree ^[1] .

According to one legend, the first glass Christmas tree decorations appeared in Saxony in the 16th century ^[1] , that is, even earlier than the first documented installation of the Christmas tree. Another tradition connects their appearance with the crop failure of apples in Germany in 1848 . Then the glassblowers in the place of Lausch in Thuringia made instead of glass "apples" and successfully sold them, which marked the beginning of the regular production of jewelry for the holiday. Then they began to blow out in Saxony. It is difficult to judge how legendary this information is and how much it is related to the competition between glassblowers from different parts. It remains a fact that since the mid-19th century, glass blowing in Lausch has remained one of the oldest glass Christmas tree decorations. In 1867, a large gas plant was opened there, the artisans of which, using easily adjustable gas burners with a high-temperature flame, blew out large thin-walled balls ^[2] .

In 1903, the Museum of Art Glass was opened in Lausch, which, in particular, presents a collection of Christmas-tree decorations.

The tradition of decorating the tree with burning wax candles is potentially flammable , but people took this risk for the sake of following the tradition and for the "naturalness" of the decorations. The idea of ​​using safer electric garlands came to the American telegraph operator Ralph Morris from New England in the late 1870s. However, he did not invent anything separately, since the threads of small signal light bulbs were already used on telephone remotes. Morris only guessed to hang them on the Christmas tree. The idea was appreciated by his colleagues, and then picked up by the manufacturers. In 1895, the first street Christmas electric garland was made in the USA, which decorated a spruce tree in front of the White House ^[2] .

The tradition of decorating Christmas trees for Christmas came to Britain with German immigrants at the beginning of the 19th century, and as before in continental Europe , it quickly spread to the islands . Here, German traditions crossed with Celtic and Druidic traditions and beliefs, especially with the cult of mistletoe and faith in its special properties. And earlier there was a belief about a special cleansing property of a mistletoe wreath. It was believed that the opponents met under him should put down their weapons and not take up to him until the next day. A kiss under a wreath of mistletoe was considered innocent and chaste. In combination with the new traditions of Christmas, this led to the appearance of Christmas wreaths as a usual decoration of the doors of the house (or above the entrance of the house) and inside ^[2] .

The Celtic tradition also includes the decoration of the Christmas tree and the house with the branches of the holly padub with its bright red berries. In those places where this plant does not grow, its closest relatives were used, now artistic imitations are more often acquired.

In the USA, the tradition of dressed-up Christmas trees was also brought by German immigrants, and came into mass use in 1850. That year, Godey's Lady's Book, a popular female illustrated almanac , printed an engraving entitled The Royal Family at the Christmas Tree. It was a slightly Americanized (clothing and hairstyle) version of the engraving of 1847 from the British Illustrated London News. On an engraving in front of a model-decorated Christmas tree with gifts under it, young Queen Victoria and her husband Albert were depicted with their children. We can say that this extremely popular engraving at one time not only established the traditions of Christmas in the USA, but also set the style of its conduct and decorations for a long time ^[3] .

In the Russian Empire, the production of their own jewelry was not so significant, but they were massively imported for the holidays from Europe, primarily from Germany. The oldest in-house jewelry production was a glass-blowing enterprise in Klin , founded by order of Menshikov at the beginning of the 18th century. This tradition has not been interrupted and continues at the Yolochka OJSC transferred to neighboring Vysokovsk . Nearby is a Christmas tree toy museum ^[4] .

After the revolution, Christmas celebrations began to be subjected to ever greater persecution, first indirect, then official, ending on the eve of 1929 with a direct ban on the holiday and the arrangement of the Christmas tree. But citizens did not cease to decorate the trees furtively, and the toys continued to be produced in a makeshift way. Just to the “period of prohibition" include the rarest and most expensive collectible Soviet Christmas-tree decorations. The situation changed only on the eve of 1935, after P. P. Postyshev ’s famous proposal in Pravda to return this holiday to Soviet children. Of course, the discussion now was not about the celebration of the Nativity of Christ , but about the celebration of the New Year . All old and new traditions were carefully cleared of any religious connotation. This was reflected in the renewed production of Christmas tree decorations in the country.

• The six-pointed gold or white star of Bethlehem was replaced by a five-pointed red . Also, they began to use simply decorative tops ("peaks").
• The place of balls and angels was taken by the most diverse figures of people, animals, fruits, vegetables. A variety of colored figures on the branches generally distinguished Soviet Christmas trees from the western ones, where decorations could be multi-colored, but usually of a uniform shape ^[4] .

The popularity of the holiday led to the restoration of the production of Christmas-tree decorations, first as side productions at various enterprises, then as independent productions. Also after the war, the city ​​of Lausch appeared on the territory of the GDR and continued to produce traditional Christmas tree products. Therefore, after the war, the USSR began to purchase sets of Christmas tree decorations from the GDR, which were delivered in special export packaging with inscriptions in Russian . The set of glass decorations included: tops ("peak", in some sets a star), 16 colored balls and 5 decorations of a different shape. The options for these five decorations, as well as the coloring of the balls, varied from year to year. These Christmas tree sets were in short supply in the USSR and one of the most desirable purchases at New Year's markets , despite the price that was quite high by the standards of the USSR (in 1983 the price of one set was 9 rubles ). By the quality of execution, packaging, fastening (wire hooks in the kit instead of threads) and the general “ western ” look, they stood out among the New Year’s assortment.

It is interesting to note that on the export boxes it was written in Russian “Happy New Year!”, While since the 19th century Lausch’s factories have traditionally called these products “Ornaments for the Christ Tree from Thuringia ” ( German: Thüringer Christbaumschmuck ). This name was given by transliteration under the picture on the box as an indication of the manufacturer: “Made in the German Democratic Republic by the Thuringer Kristbaumschmuk People's Enterprise”.

Currently, the assortment of Christmas tree decorations is generally the same as European. A significant part of this assortment is produced at enterprises in China .

• Described or referenced in an article
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  Children and Santa Claus at the "Claus tree" ( German: Klausbaum ). Engraving from the German book “ 50 Fables with Pictures for Children ”

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  "Under the Wreath of Mistletoe ", English engraving, 1873

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  Queen Victoria and her husband Albert with children at the Christmas tree. Engraving from the American almanac "Godey's Lady's Book", 1850

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  Hand-painted Christmas tree decoration. USSR, 1950s

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  Christmas decoration "Red Fighter", USSR, 1950s

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  Christmas-tree decoration "Cosmonaut", USSR, 1960s

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  Christmas wreath from Germany with all traditional attributes

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  "Tippa elle goppa" ( Swede. Typpa eller goppa ), an anthropomorphic figure made of straw, previously used for fortune telling by throwing. A frequent element for decorating Christmas trees in Sweden

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  A lavishly decorated Christmas home in California

• Christmas-tree decorations // Brief Encyclopedia of Household / Ed. A.I. Revina . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1960. - T. 1. - S. 189-190. - 770 s.
• Dushechkina E.V. Christmas tree decoration. Christmas tree decorations // Russian Christmas tree. History, mythology, literature. - SPb. : Publishing House of the European University in St. Petersburg , 2012. - 360 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-94380-120-4 .
• Ivanov S. A. Christmas-tree toys // 1000 years of insights. Amazing stories of simple things / S. B. Parkhomenko . - M .: Around the World , 2010 .-- S. 83. - 232 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-98652-351-4 .
• Salnikova A. A. The story of a Christmas tree toy, or how a Soviet Christmas tree was decorated . - UFO , 2011 .-- 234 p. - (The culture of everyday life). - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-86793-835-2 .

• Lada Luzina . The history of the USSR in toys (neopr.) (Inaccessible link) . Date of treatment December 14, 2013. Archived December 16, 2013.