Giant Christmas Lights

Light Installation: Giant Christmas Lights

A border of "giant" Christmas lights line the sidewalk behind the Buoyant stage. The tradition of adding cheerful lights to dark winter nights began in ancient times when people gathered around fires or decorated their homes with candles. Christmas lights as we know them today began in in 1880 when Thomas Edison, the inventor of the first successful practical light bulb, created the first strand of electric lights. During the Christmas of 1882, friend of Thomas Edison and vice president of Edison’s Electric Light Company, Edward H. Johnson decided to hang Edison’s lights up on a Christmas tree. From that day on, Johnson earned the title, “Father of the Electric Christmas Tree”. It would take almost forty more years for electric Christmas lights to become the tradition that we all know and love today.