Fragment of artificial pine tree with bell - used in the celebration of Christmas

During the Age of Oil, a middle-period feature of Christmas festival rituals was the mass sacrifice of living pine trees. People brought these into their homes and lit them up as a centrepiece for their celebrations. In later years plastic trees were favoured as it became the customary to replace all living things with plastic replicas. The significance of the bell is still under academic consideration but it is agreed that its function was symbolic due to the undeniable fact that it could not ring.

(found at Bawdsey and contributed to the Museum by Charlotte Leeder)