A silver glint at Christmas

A typical German Christmas: snow outside, warm, cosy and Christmassy indoors. The glitter of the snow outdoors is matched by the silver or golden sheen of the tinsel indoors. It is used to decorate advent wreaths, Christmas trees and Christmas presents.

A Christian legend tells the story of a poor widow who wanted to make Christmas perfect for her family. She spent hours decorating the tree before sleep overcame her. As she slept, spiders came and wove webs all over the tree. The baby Jesus (who brings German children their presents on Christmas Eve) took pity on her and changed the cobwebs into glittering silver threads.

The pagan belief was that the shiny metal mirror effects of tinsel warded off demonic forces and spirits. A mirror is a defence and reflects outwards.

Tinsel was previously made of tin-coated lead strips. But lead is now known to be very dangerous to the health so that aluminium or plastic is now used to make tinsel. While it is no longer believed to have magic powers, it is still used as a popular decoration at Christmas – a fact which speaks for the power of tradition which can live on without any knowledge of the true origins.


Overview