Christmas decoration
Christmas decoration or Christmas decorations is the optical design inside and outside of closed rooms with typical christmas ( pre-) objects.
Period of time
Shops and department stores usually start at the end of September beginning of October with the advertising of Christmas and sale of relevant products. Traditionally, most Christmas decorations, but will " only " up to Advent, Advent Calendar December 1.
For the so-called " Abschmücken " there are different dates. While traditionally been abgeschmückt and removed the Epiphany on January 6, the Christmas tree in the room no later than Protestant, he remains in Catholic families often until Candlemas ( Presentation of the Lord ) are on 2 February. In rural areas formerly Candlemas was considered the end of the Christmas season. Since the liturgical reform mid-20th Lahr a century the Christmas season already ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the Epiphany on January 6.
Within closed spaces
Christmas decoration was confined largely to earlier decoration within enclosed spaces: How about Christmas pyramid, Advent wreath or have already been built during the Advent season. On Christmas Eve itself was and still is the festively decorated Christmas tree the central Christmas decoration ( Christmas tree ornament ), many households also called a Nativity scene.
Outside built-up areas
In recent years, the scope of Christmas decoration has significantly increased outside of enclosed areas.
On the one hand, there are now in many inner cities and other shopping areas, Christmas decoration in the form of illuminated Christmas trees or light objects commonly Christmas motifs represent (so-called Christmas lights ). Among the oldest lights look include the " Essen Light Weeks", the present light motifs in December 1950 in the run up to Christmas.
On the other hand use many private individuals decoration objects that are attached to windows - as electrically flashing star - or even outside of the house, about the house hochkletternde Santas or lights such as on a tree located in the front yard.
According to the U.S. model is also available in Europe called " Christmas Houses " in which, where and in whose vicinity decorations of all kinds are attached. The " Christmas House " in Calle is probably with 420,000 electric lights, the light- intensive building of this type in Germany.
The first Christmas decorations are already up in the second half of November, they are often broken down until early to mid-January.
Environmental aspects
Christmas lights has not to be underestimated by the often rated as unreasonably high energy consumption negative consequences for the environment. A single string of lights in a private household consumes an average of about 30 kilowatt hours of electrical energy during the Christmas season. In 2006, energy was consumed for Christmas lights in German households over 400 million kilowatt-hours. This would be enough to supply 140,000 homes for a year throughout with energy. In the municipalities, however, only about 10 million kilowatt hours of energy consumed for Christmas lights. However, to observe is a gradual replacement of traditional light bulbs with light-emitting diodes with a significantly lower power consumption, and not just at Christmas markets, but also during the " Essen Light Weeks" and in private households. In December 2011, the Frankfurter Rundschau reported that around 500 million kilowatt -hours of electricity were consumed in addition to the Christmas lights, according to the annual electricity consumption of 140,000 households. A total of about 600 billion kWh of electricity consumed in Germany each year.