Solutions for a sustainable future

Christmas Lights

The tradition of lighting lights in the winter months didn’t start off with the brightly lit homes and trees we have that come to mind. December is the darkest month of the year with the shortest days. People living without central heating (obviously, pre-Mr. Comfort) in the 12th century were unhappy when the sun went down and they were plunged into the cold dark night. The first recorded lighting of the Yule Log occurred in Germany in 1184 and was seen as a symbol of the sun’s promise to return.

Factoid: The winter solstice occurs when the axial tilt of a planet is farthest away from the Sun. A hemisphere’s winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year. The winter solstice usually occurs on December 21 to 23 each year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Unfortunately, the only way to add Christmas lights to a tree back then was with candles (obviously, not a great idea). The tree would only be put up a few days before Christmas and the candles would remain lit only for a few minutes per night to avoid starting a fire.

Factoid: According to legend, the original Christmas tree was used as a symbol of religious devotion by Christian missionaries who used the evergreen to explain a basic religious tenet of the Trinity – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They were originally hung upside down to make sure anyone who saw a tree in the house knew it was not just a floral decoration.

By 1908, insurance companies wouldn’t pay for damages caused by Christmas tree fires. Electric Christmas lights were becoming a viable option for some Americans. They weren’t perfect as the incandescent bulbs got very hot, and sparks from malfunctioning strings still caused many fires, but they were a much safer option than candles.

Factoid: The idea for Christmas lights occurred in 1917, by Albert Sadacca, after a tragic fire in New York City in- volving Christmas tree candles. His first year only one hundred strings of white lights sold. The second year he used brightly colored bulbs and a multi-million dollar business took-off. In 1925, 15 Christmas light companies formed a consortium called the NOMA Electric Corporation, which became the largest Christmas light manufacturer in the world.

The first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree was the creation of Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison. While he was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of today’s Con Edison electric utility, he had Christmas tree light bulbs especially made for him. He proudly displayed his Christmas tree, which was hand-wired with 80 red, white and blue electric incandescent light bulbs the size of walnuts, on December 22, 1882, at his home on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Local newspapers ignored the story, seeing it as a publicity stunt. However, it was published by a Detroit newspaper reporter, and Johnson has become widely regarded as the Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights. By 1900, businesses started stringing up Christmas lights behind their windows. Christmas lights were too expensive for the average person; as such, electric Christmas lights did not become the majority replacement for candles until 1930. Factoid: In 1900, a single string of electric lights cost $12, or approximately $300 today.

In 1895, U.S. President Grover Cleveland proudly sponsored the first electrically lit Christmas tree in the White House. It was a large tree, featuring more than a hundred multicolored lights. The first commercially produced Christmas tree lamps were manufactured in strings of multiples of eight sockets by the General Electric Co. of Harrison, New Jersey. Each socket took a miniature two-candela carbon-filament lamp.

Factoid: San Diego in 1904 and Appleton, WI in 1909, and New York City in 1912 were the first recorded instances of the use of Christmas lights outside.

The technology used in Christmas lighting displays is highly diverse, ranging from simple light strands, Christmas lights, through to full blown animated tableaux, involving complex illuminated animatronics and statues.

Mr. Comfort,

E3

MR. COMFORT