The Complete Christmas
Collection
Christmas Recipes, Crafts
and Kids Activities and xmas stories. Things
have come a long way since a Christmas ornament was likely to be just a ball hung
by the window, or later on a Christmas tree.
Historians believe that this
original Christmas decoration descended from a witch ball. The original purpose
of a witch ball was to fend off evil spirits. However, being traditionally glass
made, these balls were also very decorative, and people started to see their use
for decorating the home. They were great decorations, so they started to move
around the house a bit, and the original green colour was varied as time went
on. Over the centuries, and gathering pace in the Victorian era, they were made
in different colours and sizes, and even the material from which they were made
started to be varied.
Also by Victorian times, it became fashionable to
decorate the home for Christmas, so Christmas ornaments started to take a hold
in Victorian homes. Less concerned about evil spirits, people looked at ornaments
as a festive display, a symbol of celebration. Instead of warding off evil spirits,
they started to accompany a surge in other spirits, most notably brandy and whisky.
From
Victorian times onwards the range has increased steadily. The decorations have
been hung in different places too: the mantle, windows, and front door being favourites,
as well as the Christmas tree, but there is really no restriction where to hang
Christmas ornaments these days. Inside, outside, it no longer seems to matter.
A
lot of the increase in the use of Christmas decorations has come from the desire
to impress friends, neighbours and family with the decorative display, as well,
of course, for ones own enjoyment.
The Christmas ball that was supposed
to have been derived from the witch ball, is still a clear favourite of the Christmas
ornaments used to decorate the Christmas tree. Over the years Christmas tree balls
have been designed in a great variety of colours and finish, with an increasing
variety of sparkling balls.
Another favourite for Christmas decorations
nowadays are the coloured fairy lights. Flashing coloured lights are often a feature
of outside Christmas ornament displays, as well as for the tree and other places
inside the house.
It also became quite normal in the 20th century to hang
a new type of Christmas ornament on a tree; some sort of food, especially chocolate,
that would be covered with a colourful, shiny paper wrapping to add a festive
decorative effect. On top of the Christmas tree, a fairy has been a popular adornment
over the years, but that has been changing in recent decades, and other Christmas
ornaments often now take pride of place at the pinnacle.
As with so many
things over the last hundred years, Christmas decorations have just got bigger
and better, as well as with a greater variety. Now, in some localities, you will
get local communities where house owners go to great lengths to decorate the outside
of their homes with giant Christmas ornaments and lighting displays. Some such
localities become well known simply for their Christmas display. Even here in
the Philippines, some localities become well known in the Christmas season for
their exuberant Christmas ornament displays.
For most of us, however, Christmas
ornaments are about decorating our own little piece of territory to make Christmas
a special occasion for the family, and it is unlikely that that will ever change.
Roy Thomsitt
is owner and part author of http://www.xmas-ornament.com
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