The Origin of Baubles

Last night, for our Family Home Evening, we did some searching to discover any significance behind some of what are todays common Christmas Traditions or symbols. Most of the "traditions" have pagan origins, but not all. Many people have found a way to create significance that ties into Christ, but most did not begin with that intention. One symbol of Christmas we were quite fascinated with are trees and ornaments. We certainly love our dear old Tannenbaum, but you must admit it seems a little silly that people grow a tree for 10 years to cut it down and display it in their living room 2-4weeks out of the year. Or spend hundreds of dollars to have an artificial one on hand for the occasion. It's a little weird, don't you think? While I won't share everything we learned (try it out - it's very interesting and fun and Wikipedia has a lot of information)...I do want to share a bit about ornaments...or bulbs...or BAUBLES.

Baubles have been in production since 1847. They were first made in Lauscha, Germany, by Hans Greiner who according to legend, began hand blowing glass into Christmas decorations because he couldn't afford the usual ornaments (which at that time, trees were adorned with nuts, apples, fruits and candy). You can see above an idea of what they might have been like...who would've thought? Nuts and fruit? Maybe that's where the string of cranberries fits in...hmm...

Anyway, the inside of his hand blown glass decorations were made to look silvery, at first with mercury or lead, then later using a special compound of silver nitrate and sugar water.

As demand for the new decorations grew, Greiner began making new shapes, including the sphere. After Queen Victoria's tree was pictured in a London newspaper decorated with the baubles from her husband's (Prince Albert - he was also her cousin) native Germany, Lauscha began exporting its products throughout Europe.

In the 1880s, American F.W. Woolworth discovered Lauscha's baubles during a visit to Germany. He made a fortune by importing the German glass ornaments to the United States. Today there are still about 20 small glass-blowing firms active in Lauscha that produce baubles. One of the producers is Krebs Glas Lauscha, which I found on-line and grabbed some of my favorite ornaments from their website to display here for all of you.

I think I may have found something new to collect. The only things I collect are vinyl records and magnets of places I've traveled. Perhaps I can save my pennies and collect an ornament each year so by the time we take the plastic ornaments off of our tree in about a decade, we'll have some very cool - perhaps I should say BEAUTIFUL - and authentic baubles to decorate with, shipped straight from Lauscha, Germany. I am, afterall, half German. :)

Okay, one more bauble of interest. Have any of you ever heard or done the tradition of the Christmas pickle? We had not heard of it before, even though it is supposedly a favorite game in most American households (a game, yet again, of German origin - we found that many Christmas traditions seem to stem from Germany). Apparently, it is a pickle-shaped ornament hidden in the tree. The child who finds it on Christmas morning receives an extra present. Anyone looking for a new family tradition might consider the pickle.

If you want to take a look at more of the beautiful baubles from Krebs Glas Lauscha, you can take a look here: http://www.krebslauscha.de/
Be sure to click on the English option and remember to calculate the exchange rate for dollars to Euros. Hope you enjoy!