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.
I put up my pyramid at the beginning of the Advent season. Historically the Moravians put up theirs on Christmas Eve - and took it down a day or two after Christmas.
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