Sunday, December 18, 2016

Christmas Post: The Moravian Christmas Pyramid


The early Moravians brought rich Christmas traditions to the English colony of Pennsylvania and the Wachovia of North Carolina. One of their traditions was the Christmas pyramid. These four-sided, pyramid-shaped frame structures had a long history in northern and eastern Germany.

The pyramids were placed on tables and hung with cookies, candies and fruit - and featured a nativity scene or Putz. At least as early as 1748, the Christmas pyramid was in use in Bethlehem. On Dec. 25 of that year, the Bethlehem Diary recorded the following:

"Quite early, the little children enjoyed a delightful festal occasion. Their brethren had decorated various pyramids with candles, apples and hymn stanzas and, also, drawn a picture in which the children were represented as presenting their Ave to the Christ-Child …"

The Christmas pyramid is a combination of whimsy and piety. The middle shelf is traditionally where the Nativity Scene or Putz was placed. The image above is my 2017 Christmas Pyramid. 

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