The History of Christmas Ornaments
In A.D. 336, an early Roman calendar first mentions December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth. More than likely, this date was influenced by the year-end pagan festivals that celebrated the harvest. Included in these celebrations were specially prepared meals, decorating homes, giving gifts and singing. As you can see, these pagan traditions gradually became a part of the Christian celebration itself.
The Earliest Christmas Ornaments for Trees
The earliest Christmas trees were found in Germany where they were decorated with such Christmas decorations as apples, onions, pears, nuts, candies and fruits. It was not until the 1800s that glass Christmas ornaments were first made. This took place Lauscha, Germany where the entire family was part of the business. This beautiful new glass Christmas ornaments began to replace edible decorations.
Until 1925, almost all of the hand blown glass Christmas ornaments were manufactured in Lauscha, Germany. During this time there were more than 250 million Christmas ornaments being imported into the United States alone. However, all of this changed after World War II, which is when the Lauscha area became a part of East Germany. At this time there were a lot of glassblowers who fled to West Germany and the industry began to decline at this time. It was also around this time that both Japan and Czechoslovakia began to produce glass Christmas ornaments for the North American market
Unfortunately, in the 1960's glass Christmas ornaments went out of fashion. This is when the aluminum Christmas tree, adorned with ornaments that were shaped and colored from aluminum, became quite popular. During this time a lot of the traditional Christmas ornaments were thrown away.
What to Look for in Antique Christmas Ornaments
If you are lucky enough to still have any vintage Christmas ornaments, then you really should hang on to them. Of course, it is difficult to tell whether or not they are truly vintage- but it can be done. This is because earlier ornaments were smaller than today's modern ornaments and they were usually created out of soft colors and had many hand-painted details. Of course, this paint may be either faded or distressed in areas of the ornament today.
The best places to find these ornaments today is on Ebay, at flea markets, at church sales and at garage sales too. You will want to check them carefully by removing the stem from the base of the ornament. If the base is uneven, then you can be sure that this was a hand blown ornament because the glass blower is unable to make a clean break whereas modern machinery can do so.
