Imagine, it is the late 1800s and Christmas is fast approaching. You have just chosen a Christmas Tree and it is now sitting in the centre of the room. Time to decorate! You carefully hang sparkling glass ornaments from the branches and then you take the candle holders from their box. Each is carefully clipped onto a branch, making sure that there are no branches close enough to catch alight and that the candle is straight and won't drip wax on the rug. Finally, it is time to light the candles. You take a taper and touch it to the candle wicks and stand back to watch the tree sparkle and glow in the flickering candle light.
When I took these Christmas Tree Candle Holders to show the children, they had absolutely no idea what they would have been used for. The holders have drops of wax inside, and the occasional wick, so the children eventually guessed that they had once held candles, but the idea that they would be used as Christmas Tree Lights was very strange. They are used to electric lights which are easy to use and really very safe. It never occured to them that electric lights couldn't have been used forever. They assumed the candle holders were used as a miners light to clip onto a hat, or perhaps a book light, to clip onto a book. The idea that people would put lit candles on their tree was for them 'insane - they might burn the house down!'
Light is a very important part of Christmas traditions. Even today, putting lights on a Christmas Tree is an important part of most peoples Christmas celebrations, and many people also use lights to decorate their house, both inside and out. Before electricity was available, candles were used for the same purpose. For hundreds of years, on Christmas Eve a light, often a candle, was placed in the window to guide Jesus as he visited the different houses and even today, many Christians still do this. We use scented candles to make us feel more 'Christmassy' and like to enjoy their soft glow around the house.
So when did candles first start to be put on the tree itself, and why? As far as we know Christmas trees first started to be lit with candles in the 17th century, when they were either glued to the branches, or held in place with small pins. Later, by the 1890s, candle holders like the ones I showed the children had been invented. They held the candle in place more securely and also often had a little tray to catch the wax, but they were no less dangerous. Christmas Tree candles were very small, and they weren't put on the tree for very long. Usually, they weren't even put onto the tree until Christmas Eve! This was because candles were a dangerous way to light a tree, especially a tree which contained lots of flammable oils, as pine trees do. They were a very important symbol of the Christmas Season though, representing the Star Of Wonder from the Nativity story. When electric Christmas lights were invented, this symbolism continued, thought it is mostly forgotten today.
