Christmas Lights

Christmas means so many things to so many different people. Many of the decorations and traditions that we associate with Christmas have been picked up over the centuries from other cultures. One of these is Christmas lights.

Christmas and light go together like hands in gloves. Candles were the main source of light before electricity and electric lights were readily available. The idea of candles being used as celebration at this time of year can be traced as far back to the Greeks and Romans. Several of their God and goddesses were honored in the dates between December 14th and the 25th. Candles made up one of their favorite decorations.

In the Scandinavian countries candles are also used to celebrate St. Lucia. Here day fall in with the Christmas season. Candles are burned in her honor for what she accomplished as well as for the way that she died.

Christmas trees were also decorated with live burning candles. This was soon stopped for obvious reasons. The invention of electric Christmas lights also made this unnecessary.

Every year we wait to see the various Christmas trees light up to officially start the Christmas season. Christmas lights from New York to Los Angeles light the sky and make our countries cities alive with festivity.

There are of course the neighborhood battles for who can get the most Christmas lights onto their house. Some homes you would think could be seen from outer space with the amount of electricity that is pumping through.

People love to be clever with their Christmas lights. Getting them set to music seems like one of the favorite novelties of the season. New computer Christmas lights are also taking off.

Even though the tradition of light doesn’t all come from Christian roots, people love the Christmas light displays of the season. It gives the sense of living and warmth during one of the coldest times of the year.