Page 30 2023 Home For The Holidays Lincoln Daily News November 23, 2022 Continued — strung with 3,000 lights in 1923. Interestingly, the National Tree Lighting tradition was not instigated by the spirit of the season, but rather, by the electricity lobby hoping to encourage Christmas electricity use to a country only 30% electrified. The first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was set up in 1931 during construction of the Rockefeller Center. It was a 20 foot tree put up by construction workers working on the site and decorated with cranberries, paper garlands, and even tin cans. Two years later another went up, this time 40 feet tall and strung with 750 lights. Current iterations of the tree hold over 25,000 lights. The origins of some modern traditions are sometimes obscure or lost in the past, but we know exactly why we haul an evergreen into our living rooms and bedeck it with baubles and lights every winter as a cherished tradition. We can all thank Queen Victoria’s beloved German Prince Consort, Albert. [Stephanie Hall] Resources: https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/ history-of-christmas-trees https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/ technology/item/who-invented-electricchristmas-lights https://time.com/5736523/history-ofchristmas-trees https://time.com/4580764/national-christmastree-lighting-history-origins/
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