Dec. 21, the shortest and darkest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere, is fast approaching. As we approach that date, every day continues to decrease its daylight hours until all that is left is eight hours and 19 minutes of daylight.
From sunrise at 8:11 a.m. to sunset at 4:31 p.m., Dec. 21 will have the least daylight of the other days of 2016.
Of course in Australia, and the Southern Hemisphere, Dec. 21 is the longest day of the year, but we won't discuss that here.
A number of things make this gloomy assessment bearable and even enjoyable. First Christmas lights start popping up, some as early as mid November to light up the darkening sky. Second, Christmas follows the darkest day of the year, only four days later on Dec. 25. And third, everyday after Dec. 21 will increase in daylight.
A walk around Timmins’ neighbourhoods showed a diverse response to Christmas lights. Some were a washed in multi-coloured, shimmering Christmas lights. Some were humble, others glittering and the rest in between. Some streets did not have much by way of Christmas lights possibly because of the high cost of electricity. That is quite understandable.
Others had simple and symbolic strands of lights. LED energy efficient lights helps reduce the energy bill for those who do want a bit extra to light up the night.
The tradition of Christmas lights began, according to Wikipedia, in Germany during the late 18th Century when aristocrats started brining in pine trees into their homes during the Christmas season and affixed candles to the branches.
In England, during the reign of Queen Victoria whose family of course was of Germanic origin, Christmas lights began to appear in the 1830s. According to Wikipedia, the young Queen Victoria enthused about the lights, the sugar confections that decorated it and the presents stuffed underneath the tree.
By the 1850, a more mature Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, decorated Christmas trees with their children. British society embraced the tradition. From there it was a hop, skip and an ocean voyage to the British colonies such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The tradition soon took route all over the world including the United States.
The first electric light Christmas tree appeared around 1882 created by Edward Johnson an associate of Thomas Edison in New York City apparently as a demonstration for the city officials on the merits of using electricity for street lighting.
By the 1880s, outdoor Christmas lights began to appear. But the real outdoor festival of lights began in earnest in the 1920s, when electric bulbs became safer, cheaper and more affordable to the middle-class. The National Outfit Manufacturers’ Association (NOMA) became the largest Christmas light manufacturer in the world but went bankrupt in the 1960s. The NOMA brand was subsequently resurrected and produces bulbs today.
In the 1990s, mini-lights were introduced and they changed everything. They were even more affordable, used less energy and could be strung around suburban structures much easier than gabled downtown structures.
The introduction of the mini light created a revolution in outdoor decorative lighting. The mini bulbs offered high-impact, low-cost lighting and used a lower wattage per strand. In addition, the rise of suburban tract housing created an easy structure to decorate.
LED lights today have also substantially reduced the cost of lighting up strands of Christmas lights.
Today city streets especially downtown are often decorated as they are in Timmins.
In the olden days some of the mining head frames were lit up with Christmas lights.
Of course storefronts are also decorated with Christmas lights and other decorations.
So get out and walk around Timmins and enjoy the festival of lights put on by your neighbours, your city, you merchants and on a clear night the sky above.
