German Christmas traditions
A remarkable amount of what the world now considers "classic Christmas" traces back to Germany — including the ornament on your tree right now.
The decorated tree itself
Germany popularized bringing a live evergreen indoors and decorating it, a custom that spread to Britain after Prince Albert (born in Germany) set one up at Windsor Castle in the 1840s.
The glass ornament
In 1847, a glassblower in the town of Lauscha shaped the first blown-glass bauble. Within decades, Lauscha's workshops were shipping hand-painted glass ornaments across Europe and America — the direct ancestors of the ornaments we still hang today.
Advent calendars, gingerbread houses, and Christmas markets round out the list — German traditions have quietly shaped more of the modern holiday than most people realize.
