Christmas Pyramid

A Christmas pyramid (German: Weihnachtspyramide) is a Christmas decoration that has its roots in the Ore mountains of Germany, but has become popular throughout the country. It is suggested that the Christmas pyramid is a precursor to the Christmas tree. These pyramids themselves are not limited to Christmas: in the Erzgebirge existed a habit to get around the St. John's tree to dance with garlands and flowers with the summer solstice.

Christmas pyramids serve a decorative purpose, especially nowadays where both children and adults be enlivened with the Christmas spirit. ==Building[ Edit] == The Christmas pyramid is a kind of Carousel with on different levels a number of effigies of Christian motifs such as Angels or Mangerscenes, and others with more secular motifs such as mountain people, forests and other scenes from the daily life of the people in the Ore mountains. The rotational movement of the pyramids is traditionally obtained using candles, whose rising heat the propeller rotates at the top.

Christmas pyramids are generally made of wood with four-to eight-sided platforms with a long rod in the middle which serves to transfer the whole of spinning plateaus. In a glass or ceramic tube is a drive shaft to which at least one platform is confirmed. The figures that appear on the platforms are traditionally made of wood.

Christmas pyramids can take a variety of forms, from intricately carved miniature houses with pitched roofs, to large structures with many levels that just serve as a display for the carved figures. In many cities in the Ore mountains there are large Christmas pyramids in the market square on the Christmas market or in other places related to the Christmas rush. ==History[ Edit] == The origins of the Christmas pyramids dates back to the middle ages. In this period it was common to southern and Western Europe to collect Evergreen branches and in the House to hang to gloom to ward off into the dark and cold winter months. In Northern and Eastern Europe traditional candles are used to achieve this goal. The Christmas pyramid would eventually unify these two traditions and a symbol of Christmas celebrations. The ancestor of the pyramid was a construction known as a "Lichtergestelle" (literally: thing on which lights are put) and were very popular in the 18th century. They were constructions made of four poles, decorated with Evergreen branches, tied together at the top and lit with candles. In the large cities, but the Lichtergestelle slowly replaced the Christmas tree in the mountains saw the people not a simple tree decorated with lights but instead, they were reminded of the capstans, which usually were used in the mines of the Ore mountains. To the pyramid shape was added the circular motion of the capstan and the first Christmas pyramids were born.

The name "Christmas pyramid" came about when the Napoleonic expedition in Egypt at the end of the 18th century brought photos of the pyramids to Europe and eventually to the Ore mountains, where the people recalled the capstans in the mining industry and also to the Christmas constructions.

A major breakthrough in the popularity of the Christmas pyramid came around 1830 with the discovery of kerosene. One previously made use of relatively expensive candles or rapeseed oil. When the resources for the light and the rotation of the pyramids became much cheaper, scattered the tradition itself. Nowadays can be seen in such pyramids numerous styles and sizes throughout Germany, but also in many parts of the United States.