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The origin of the modern-day Christmas tree may hearken back as far as 1550 BCE, when Egyptians would bring palm fronds inside during the winter solstice to celebrate the return of Ra, the sun god. However, the custom of adding lights came much, much later.
The idea was first “sparked” by Martin Luther in the 16th century. As legend has it, he was walking home one snowy winter night in Wittenberg, Germany, and became so taken by the stars glistening in the black sky above the swaying branches of evergreen trees, that he rushed home, determined to recreate that magic for his children. These first lights were actually lit candles, sitting on branches held by melted wax. Luther, who was a priest, taught his children that these candles were like their very own stars, and they represented the star that guided the wise men to Jesus. As this tradition began to spread across Europe, people were careful to keep a large bucket of water near the tree.
Fast forward to Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent light bulb in 1879, and suddenly families had a much safer way to enjoy the glow of a warmly lit tree. Edison’s carbon filament bulbs, filled with an inert gas to prevent oxidation and help transfer the heat to the bulb, could last nearly 15 hours. Edward Johnson, an associate of Edison, hand-strung 80 red, white and blue bulbs together in 1882 and within 20 years, General Electric was selling the first Christmas light kits. They were expensive at $12 (about $340 today), so other companies offered light string rentals for $1.50 during the holiday season. Then the United States launched the Christmas light industry ever forward with the innovation of flame-shaped bulbs with a tungsten filament, which were longer lasting and affordable.
Color Christmas Bulbs
The National Outfit Manufacturer’s Association Electric Company (or NOMA) was able to repurpose its white bulbs into colored bulbs and successfully take over the industry from G.E. and become the largest Christmas light manufacturer in the world for roughly 40 years. In 1946, NOMA debuted the gimmicky “bubble light” to the American market, where methylene chloride was heated to a low boiling point just enough for a bubble to emerge, much like a lava lamp. The idea for bubbling lights was first demonstrated by Benjamin Franklin with oil, but Carl Otis adapted it for Christmas lights. NOMA alone sold 150 million series bubble lights in five years.
It’s no surprise that in the 1950s, when the Space Race began, aluminum Christmas trees hit the market. These futuristic trees never needed water, never dropped needles, and, of course, never caught fire. But unfortunately, since aluminum is a conductor, people could not add lights to their metallic branches and instead, used lighted, spinning color wheels to make the tree glow. This new fad tanked the traditional U.S. Christmas light companies.
G.E. was able to resurrect the industry by outsourcing production overseas and creating “Merry Midget” mini lights in 1966, which were so affordable people began lighting their whole houses with them. In 1969, Americans had won the Space Race and began a race against their neighbors to see who could have the most over-the-top holiday light décor.
LED Christmas Bulbs
Light Emitting Diode (LED) light technology, although first invented in 1962 by Nick Holonyak of G.E., did not become widely used in holiday lighting until 1998 due to issues in developing the colors and improving brightness. It certainly seems they have fixed the brightness issue today, as LEDs can blind someone faster than the Griswold house at Christmas! Today’s domestic holiday lighting engineers can not only change the colors and brightness levels of different series of LED bulbs, but also they can even change the color of each individual bulb, allowing them to program animations — all from an app on a cell phone.
Many LED strips today come with a controller that has a built-in microphone that makes the lights react to the sound around them. Microcontrollers like Arduino can actually break down audio into frequency bands, controlling specific lights or sections.
National Lampoon’s
“Christmas Vacation”
I wonder what Clark W. Griswold would think of today’s dancing lights with computer chips inside. First, he might spend less time cursing and kicking plastic reindeer because LEDs use far less energy and won’t trip his breaker. Second, he could spend more time drinking eggnog with Uncle Eddie and less time stapling lights to the roof (and his shirt) because low-profile, weatherproof LEDs can be left up all year.
Or perhaps Griswold, in his old age, would opt for a smart LED floodlight to make it appear that he has spent hours stringing lights, when really it is all smoke and mirrors … well, optics and reflectors. He could make it seem as though “snowflakes” were dancing across his roof or even project a giant Santa on his garage! To make life even easier, Clark could pick up some net lights and toss them over his front bushes. Done!
Text by Emily K. Alberts
Emily K. Alberts implores everyone to always check the light strands before stringing them. When in doubt, toss them out (or recycle). A new set is just two bucks a box.
