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"Silent Night" Came Into Being Accidentally
Thursday 24 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 24 (TASR) - All around the world the atmosphere of Christmas is marked by Advent wreaths, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, painted glass decorations and fireworks.
These symbols developed gradually over the years. The first Advent wreath was made by Johann Wichlern, a clergyman from Hamburg, but it had 24 candles that he lit, day by day, until Christmas day. Later, it became the custom to light only four candles, which matches the number of Advent Sundays.
The best-known Christmas carol, Silent Night, came into being in the Austrian town of Oberndorf. It appeared by accident in 1818, when the church organ broke down one day before Christmas.
The organist, with the help of the chaplain, wrote a new song, which they played on their guitars on December 24, 1818. From that time onwards, Silent Night spread throughout Austria, and by the 1820s it had become familiar in most European states, and was already popular in America and Australia.
The first Christmas tree appeared after 1600 in Europe, and the first to decorate it were Christians in Germany. At first, the decorations were made from sugar, straw, wood, nuts, dried plums and apples. A new innovation appeared in 1889, when Pierre Dupont patented the production of glass Christmas bells.
The newest custom linked to Christmas and New Year is the use of fireworks, which found their way into Europe in the second half of the 18th century from China and Japan, where they had been used for several centuries.
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