Christmas: Family Celebrations in France and Canada

For a long time Germany headed the list of major producers of Christmas ornaments. From 1875 to the beginning of the Second World War, Germany provided a goodly share of the decorations for Canadian Christmas trees. Other producers included Austria, the United States, Japan, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Canada.

The first glass ornaments were kugels, a kind of glass ball intended to protect houses against evil spirits. These were produced at Lauscha in Germany around 1830. The shape of kugels and other Christmas balls remind us of the red apples, which decorate the tree of Paradise.

Using small candles to light up the Christmas tree dates back to the middle of the XVIIth century. The custom was only really firmly established, however, at the beginning of the XIXth century in Germany and soon after in the Slavic countries of Eastern Europe.

The first candles were glued with wax or pinned to the end of the tree branches. Little lanterns and small candleholders then appeared to make putting up the tapers easier. Candleholders with clips appeared around 1890. Glass balls and lanterns were created between 1902 and 1914.
The first time a Christmas tree was lit by electricity was in 1882 in New York. Edward Johnson, a colleague of Thomas Edison, lit a Christmas tree with a string of 80 small electric light bulbs, which he had made himself. These strings of light began to be produced around 1890. One of the first electrically lit Christmas trees was erected in Westmount, Quebec in 1896. In 1900, some large stores put up large illuminated trees to attract customers.

Once begun, the custom spread in Canada wherever electricity came to towns and the countryside. Because of the risk of fire, trees were not usually put up until December 24. This technical innovation altered the custom since it was now possible to put the tree up earlier and leave it up longer, until the day before Epiphany.

North America gave the traditional Christmas tree a new look with the invention of strings of electric lights. As early as 1912, the first illuminated trees appeared in Boston’s public areas. Outdoor Christmas trees quickly became commonplace in North America. After the First World War, this novelty reached Europe and became widespread towards the middle of the XXth century.

Towards the end of the XIXth century, another variation of the traditional Christmas tree also appeared on the market: the artificial tree. The earliest came from Germany and were made of metal wire and goose or turkey feathers died green to imitate pine needles. Between 1900 and 1950, huge trees of ostrich or swan feathers intended for hotels, stores and the houses of the wealthy were manufactured.

In Canada, the fashion of the illuminated outdoor tree is very widespread. The winter climate with its combination of dark nights and white snow contrasts with the cheerfulness of the multicoloured decorations. In the suburbs, there are almost as many Christmas trees outside as there are inside.

Throughout Alberta there are only a few hours of sunlight when the year arrives at the winter solstices. Clear sky and a cover of fresh snow provide the backdrop for the festive use of decorative lights. The ancient northern European use of light and fire in the month of Yule, and the medieval Christian play on these images, echo in the most convivial of Alberta’s civil feasts.

In one of Edmonton’s wealthier districts the neighbours out-do each other decorating their homes on a street that has come to be called "Candy-cane Lane." On Christmas Day and Boxing Day the destitute and homeless of Edmonton are served a festive meal. Some churches also reach out to the public and invite them in for a Christmas spectacle.