Christmas Baubles, the true story

Have you ever heard of the Garden of Eden's tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Think of a red apple, beautiful, perfect, shiny, the right size, not the modern ones as big as watermelons.

The apple is for our tradition the forbidden fruit and that is the symbol of original sin. Do you know what we're talking about? In a nutshell, it is a matter of the division of man from God, from original sin the mortality of the human race is born. Before original sin, man was very close to God and therefore did not die.

On December 24, shortly after the winter solstice, a festival was celebrated that has now fallen into disuse. For this festival it was customary to stage theatrical performances, Mysterious Works, with which passages from the Bible were represented to the simple people of the time. The sets were often made with trees decorated with red apples to represent paradise. From here the Tree of Paradise was born, which was often an evergreen.

It goes without saying that over time, the tree of paradise then became the Christmas tree decorated with apples. In some countries, you can still find this custom of decorating Christmas trees with apples.

As early as 1700, the first glass Christmas balls appeared in Goetzenbruck in the Moselle region of northeastern France. Even in the mid-1800s, in the north of France, a skilled glassmaker imitated apples by making Christmas baubles as we know them today.

In the 60s of the last century, not so long ago, plastic balls were born. Did you know that in Meisenthal, also in France, in the Moselle, glass Christmas baubles are still blown?

They blow each other by mouth. In Meisenthal you can visit the glassworks. It is a beautiful experience because you will see artisans at work and you can also buy freshly made Christmas balls, very expensive but, for a good memory, it is worth it.