Did they use real candles on Christmas trees?

Your grandparents did. Adorning Christmas trees with candles is part of our Christmas DNA. Our ancestors were decking out their trees with candles for hundreds of years before electric tree lights came into vogue. This patent from 1901 shows an early pendulum candle holder.

Who first put lights on a Christmas tree?

Edward H. Johnson
Edward H. Johnson put the very first string of electric Christmas tree lights together in 1882. Johnson, Edison’s friend and partner in the Edison’s Illumination Company, hand-wired 80 red, white and blue light bulbs and wound them around his Christmas tree.

Did people put candles in trees?

Candles were expensive objects at the time, so the candle on a tree remained the preserve of wealthier German Protestants for many years. It was not until the mid-19th century that cheaper candles and greater wealth combined to make a candle on the tree a standard part of the festive season for middle class families.

How many deaths are caused by Christmas trees?

In its report on Christmas tree fires, the National Fire Protection Association notes that there are an average of 200 fires caused by Christmas trees annually, leading to an average of 6 deaths and 16 injuries. People are more likely to die as a result of a Christmas tree fire than from other causes of home fires.

Which president banned a Christmas tree in the White House?

When I was a kid fifty years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt had a bad rap. We learned that way back in the 1900s, he banned Christmas trees from the White House.

Why do we put ornaments on a Christmas tree?

Tradition states that from that moment, fir trees were brought into Christian homes, decorated in the name of Jesus. Hanging religious ornaments on a tree was a way to honor the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus Christ’s birth.

What country did the Christmas tree originate?

Germany
The modern Christmas tree, though, originated in western Germany. The main prop of a popular medieval play about Adam and Eve was a “paradise tree,” a fir tree hung with apples, that represented the Garden of Eden.