As a children's Christmas party took place for President Herbert Hoover's aides and friends, the West Wing executive offices caught fire. Keystone-France // Getty Images 1929: The White House catches on fireĬhristmas in 1929 will be remembered for a great blaze in the nation's capital. The same year marked Hollywood's first Christmas Parade in Los Angeles. When the wearer shakes hands with another person, a button on the disc releases the spring, which quickly unwinds, creating a vibration that feels like a minor electric shock to the unsuspecting victim. Who doesn't love a good practical joke? The joy buzzer, invented in 1928, was a prank device comprising a coiled spring inside a disc worn in the palm. "Feather trees" were assembled from dyed goose feathers and attached to a "trunk." Denver Post via Getty Images 1928: Gag gifts make their debut By the latter half of the decade, artificial trees were common. Science & Society Picture Library // Getty Images 1927: Artificial feather trees gain popularityīesides more conventional lights, the trees themselves took on innovations. On Christmas Eve in New York City, hospitals were overflowing with sick people. Angered by the public's continued consumption during Prohibition, the government employed a scare tactic by poisoning some manufactured liquor. Topical Press Agency // Getty Images 1926: Alcohol poisonings abound thanks to the US governmentĪ little Christmas libation never hurt anyone-except in 1926. Enter powerhouse General Electric, who began production of pre-assembled, inexpensive lights to adorn homes and trees for the holidays. Cincinnati Museum Center // Getty Images 1925: General Electric makes artificial lights more accessibleīy the middle of the 1920s, the increasing popularity of Christmas trees meant a need for affordable and accessible lights. Reports reveal that 10,000 people showed up to see live animals from Central Park Zoo. Today's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began as the "Macy's Christmas Parade" in 1924. William Lovelace // Getty Images 1924: Macy's parade ushers in Christmas In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge lit the first national Christmas tree in the White House-a 64-foot fir. HUM Images // Universal Images Group via Getty Images 1923: First Christmas tree in the White HouseĪlongside the radio, Christmas trees were a growing centerpiece of the holiday. 23 and its first radio-broadcast play, "The Truth About Father Christmas," on Dec. The BBC broadcast its first orchestral concert on Dec. Radios were globally influential, and in 1922, the BBC started daily programs. General Photographic Agency // Getty Images 1922: BBC broadcasts first British radio play 'The Truth about Father Christmas' The recent invention had become a popular gift and also the center of most social gatherings-particularly for live-broadcast holiday concerts. By this time, the radio had become ubiquitous. Many of today's traditions began during Prohibition-era America. Topical Press Agency // Getty Images 1921: Christmas takes to the radio Nativity plays, a tradition still shared today, had become extremely popular for schoolchildren in 1920. Read on to discover how Christmas has evolved over the past century.įox Photos // Getty Images 1920: Nativity plays are all the rageīy 1920, Christmas celebrations were shifting away from the public space and more toward the family. At times, especially in eras of war and strife, families adjust their rituals to accommodate their new circumstances while still keeping their spirits up. Some traditions on the list are centuries old, and others are newer but no less cherished. Stacker also found when some of the most popular Christmas songs, movies, and books entered the canon of the holiday season and looked at gifts that topped many Christmas lists over the years. and around the world, with references updated as of November 2023. To see how the holiday has changed over the last century, Stacker explored how popular traditions, like food and decorations, emerged and what major world events transpired from 1920 to 2022 in the U.S. However, the ways people celebrate and think of the holiday continue to change as society evolves. The Yuletide is generally thought of as a time for family, togetherness, compassion, and generosity. The Christmas Truce, as it is known today, is for many an illustration of the power Christmas holds over humanity’s collective imagination. Soccer games were played between the British and German troops before they returned to their respective sides at dusk and continued fighting. It was spontaneous and not approved by any higher-ups, but many soldiers on both sides ended up taking part. On Christmas Day in 1914, British and German troops emerged from the trenches of World War I as weeks of bad weather cleared and called a truce.
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