The people who walked in darkness: The origins of Christmas lights

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”

– Isaiah 9:2

As winter drags on, the days grow shorter and the nights extend until much of our days are spent in darkness. As the shadows grow long, strings of lights appear as people all over the world begin their preparations for Christmas day. Red, yellow, green, pink, and white, these colorful lights are synonymous with Christmas in much of the world. 

Where did Christmas lights originate? Is there a deeper meaning hidden behind their joyful twinkling?

Oh Christmas tree

To discover the origin of Christmas lights, we need to go back to the origin of the Christmas tree. This tradition dates back to Germanic paganism and nature worship, which was then baptized and adopted by the newly converted Germanic tribes and peoples to become a Christian symbol. 

The tree would be set up during medieval moral plays to represent the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was hung with apples to tempt Adam and Eve, who, eating of them, plunged the world into the darkness of sin. Later the tree, still hung with various fruits and decorations, became affiliated with Christmas, with its evergreen needles symbolizing the eternal nature of Christ. 

The tree was decorated with ornaments of various intricacies, small wafers to represent the holy Eucharist, strings of berries and popcorn, small figurines and other ornaments. Small candles were fixed to the tree with wax or pins in order that the decorations may be seen better. Later, small decorative candle holders were made of metal. The tree would be cast in a gentle flickering light, which added a lovely glow to the darkness of winter.

It’s electric

By 1882, the Christmas tree had made its way from Germany to the White House. President Franklin Pierce put up the first Presidential Christmas tree in 1856 and by 1870 freshly cut evergreen trees were being sold to Americans everywhere as they too began decorating the trees and placing their presents beneath their bows. 

One of Thomas Eddison’s coworkers, Edward Hibberd Johnson, had an idea to revolutionize and capitalize the Christmas tree. He painstakingly handwired a string of 80 colorful lights and put them on display to the wonder of all who passed by. Two years later he outdid himself with a string of 120 colorful bulbs. 

Electricity was not readily available and the production of such a festive wonder was not cheap. In 1900, a string of 16 bulbs went for a costly $12 (around $350 by today’s standards). However, by the 1930s Christmas lights became a staple of Christmas decorations everywhere, and Eddison’s company made a great deal of money.

Commercial or Christ-like?

While electric Christmas lights may have begun as a money-making scheme, they too help illuminate the Christian reason for the season. The original candles on Christmas trees helped better showcase the beautiful mysteries of faith represented in the ornaments. Our modern electric lights can shed light on the mystery of faith at the heart of the holiday season. 

At the beginning of the Gospel of John, he writes of the coming of Christ: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Like the light that vanquishes the darkness, the coming of Christ into the world vanquishes the darkness of sin and death. He came in the darkness of a stable at Bethlehem to die on a tree for our sins. Now we string trees with lights as we remember the child who was born in darkness to be the Light of the world. 

Christmas lights are beautiful. Many families will walk or drive around their neighborhoods clutching cups of hot cocoa and gazing at the elaborate and colorful displays. The lights make us pause and bring light to the darkness of the cold winter months. 

Our spiritual lives too are brightened by the lights of the season. Whenever you stop to admire Christmas lights, remember that those lights are not just a commercial decoration but a reminder of the Light of the world, who was born to vanquish the darkness forever.