Preparing for Christmas: Moscow style

 

Clare Taylor has been doing a bit of bauble research and she’s got some interesting facts to share with you

I had planned to write a post for BritMums all about preparing for an expat Christmas as a Brit abroad.  It was going to feature hilarious anecdotes on the fun of being a travelling family at this time of year.  It would feature the fun of packing the smallest of capsule wardrobes into the largest suitcases possible (to allow enough space for 2 small boys’ Christmas presents to be returned intact to Moscow after the holidays), and touch on the seeming impossibility of returning home with the same number of school library books you left with.

But a lecture on Russian Christmas traditions that I attended this morning pushed all those plans to one side; I now have some fascinating Tree Decoration Facts burning a hole in my metaphorical pocket, and thought that they might help you prepare (see what I did there?) some filler material for those awkward family pauses we all experience during that post-turkey low…

Ever wondered where the original inspiration for baubles came from?  (No? Just me, then…) Way, way back in Germany, it was traditional to decorate evergreen trees on the 24th December with candles and food, including apples and treats for the kids.  (Bear with me on the baubles, please).  As such, the decorations never lasted long once the kids got their hands on them, hence their last minute installation.  So –

Interesting Fact #1: If you are like my family, and leave your preparations (aha!) to the last minute you are not in fact a killjoy, but adhering to ancient traditions…

Interesting Fact #2:  But the baubles, I hear you ask?  Around 1700 there was a severe shortage of apples in a particular part of Germany where they specialised in making glass.  Hey presto, glass apples were made and decorated in bright colours in place of the missing fruit.  They caught on, and morphed into the baubles we know and love today

Interesting Christmas tree decoration Fact #3 neatly illustrates Soviet ingenuity.  (This post is being written in Moscow, after all…) Under communism, Christmas was effectively banned in Russia and individuals were not allowed to put up decorations at home to mark the occasion.  That changed however, in 1937, when Stalin’s government gave a ‘gift’ to the children of Russia; families were allowed to celebrate New Year’s Eve, and permission was given for trees to be decorated and gifts left under them for the little ones (sound familiar?).  Lovely – except, what to decorate the trees with?  There was nothing as frivolous as a bauble manufacturer in existence in Soviet Russia at the time, so a light bulb company rose to the occasion.  Within a few days brightly painted lightbulbs (excluding the electrical internal workings) were available to hang on the trees…

So, there you go.  As you sit and look at your Christmas baubles sparkling gently in the glow of the LED lights this year, you have a whole new raft of information to use to distract your family from arguing over who gets the last caramel Quality Street, as you snaffle it yourself.

You’re welcome.

–Clare Taylor

Potty Mummy (aka Clare Taylor) blogs over at The Potty Diaries and at Diaries of Moscow Mum on The Moscow Times Online site.  She can also be found wasting valuable time tweeting as @thepottydiaries…