Winter is coming, which means the small glittering lights are making their way out of the garages across America and onto proud front trees and rooflines. But how did the tradition of using lights to celebrate Christmas start? What about Chanukah, the Jewish “Festival of Lights,” that seems anything but that, celebrated around the same time of year?
The popular explanation of the history of Christmas lights involves the inventor of the light bulb: Thomas Edison. In the winter of 1880 in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison wanted to give the public a desire for electricity. His ultimate goal was to power downtown Manhattan with modern electricity, instead of outdated gaslight. He laid eight miles of incandescent bulbs near a railroad by his research facility and enchanted the passengers on the passing trains.
Edison did not intend for the light to be associated with Christmas, but by 1888, factories produced small lights made specifically for decorative purposes. Previously, people used bare candlesticks to decorate their Christmas trees with light, so the new lights were originally advertised as “electric candles” to increase the familiarity around the new invention. The 1920s saw a growing Christmas light industry, and somber blue lights were popular during the Great Depression. As we know today, the industry behind Christmas lights is alive and well.
How does Chanukah fit into this? Chanukah is a Jewish holiday that begins on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in the Hebrew lunar calendar. The word “Chanukah” in Hebrew translates to “dedication” in English and is known colloquially as the “Festival of Lights.” The holiday celebrates the story that the oil to light the celebratory menorah lasted eight days instead of the (more likely) single day. Notably, Chanukah is one of the only Jewish holidays that is popularly observed and yet not written in the Old Testament that contains the other major Jewish holidays. In terms of the religious background of the holiday, Chanukah is a relatively minor holiday in Judaism, despite its current commercialized state.
Recall that the advent of Edison’s “first Christmas lights” were in 1880. Also at the end of the 1800s was when Jewish religious leaders advocated for gift-giving on all eight nights of Chanukah so that children were proud to be Jewish at this time of year. Today, Jews balance the observance of Chanukah with the realization that a minor holiday is one of the only ways that non-Jews are familiar with Judaism.
While the lights at wintertime could logically have been integrated into the observance of Chanukah, the Jewish “Festival of Lights”, they never really were, perhaps because of the minor nature of the holiday. Thus, the lights instead became intertwined with the celebration of Christmas. Nevertheless, there are no rules dictating who should light up the dark winter with festive lights. No matter what religion you are, enjoy! Edison would have been happy electricity finally caught on.
