“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go…”
Depending on how observant you are, you might have seen Christmas decorations appearing around campus over the past few weeks. In front of the President’s house, lightposts are decorated with garland and lights, trees in various locales are light-strung and bestarred and inside Christ Chapel wreaths are hung.
Where do these lights come from? Well, it’s not the elves doing the decorating. In early November, Grounds crew opens tubs of neatly coiled and sorted LED strings. (The LED lights are a recent energy-saving change.) Then four Grounds workers from Physical Plant spend a few days stringing lights on trees, lightposts and signs. In the meantime, other Physical Plant workers are preparing Christ Chapel for Christmas in Christ Chapel. Decorations include a one hundred pound wreath of lights that has to be winched into place.
When all the work is done, there are seven decorated trees around the President’s house, two outside by the Courtyard Cafe, two trees on either side of each limestone GAC sign, a large tree on Eckman Mall and two by Christ Chapel. There the lights will stay until the first of the new year, when they’ll be unplugged and, weather permitting, removed.
Why even bother putting lights up? Well, they are pretty.
“I really like Christmas lights … I wish there were more. I thought the ones around the sign coming up College Ave were really nice,” First-year Geology Major Michael Jacobsen said.
But where did the tradition of Christmas lights come from at all? In the mid-1800s, candle-lit Christmas trees came in vogue for a short time. Obviously, there were some hazards to placing dozens of open flames on a dry tree and the custom died out for a time. Later, with the invention of the electric light bulb, electric-lit trees became popular, but only for the wealthy—a short string cost almost 300 dollars. It wasn’t until the 1930s that middle-class people were able to afford lights. Lit Christmas trees became popular during WWII, when they were seen as a symbol of hope.
So, when you’re wandering purposefully around campus at night, take a look at those illuminated trees. The elves didn’t put them up, and there is a meaning to them.
Merry Christmas!
Depending on how observant you are, you might have seen Christmas decorations appearing around campus over the past few weeks. In front of the President’s house, lightposts are decorated with garland and lights, trees in various locales are light-strung and bestarred and inside Christ Chapel wreaths are hung.