This is an IHeart podcast.

Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from IHeart Radio.

Hey there and welcome to Tech Stuff.

I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland.

I'm an executive producer with IHeart Podcasts, and how the tech are you?

Well, we are on holiday here at IHeart Podcasts, but of course, I love putting out episodes anyway.

So I thought I would bring you a classic.

That's not even that old.

It actually originally published in 2019, but it's becoming a classic tradition and tech stuff

that on Christmas Day, December 25th, we publish lighting up the holidays, which looks at the

history of incorporating lights in winter holidays. So I hope that you are all healthy and happy and safe and surrounded by loved ones,

whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

And let's sit back and listen to this episode of Tech Stuff,

lighting up the holidays, which originally published November 27, 2019.

Now, before I dive into all of that, I want to acknowledge a few things. First, while I'll be

talking about Christmas lights, there are many people of different faiths, ethnicities, regions,

etc., who celebrates special days during the

winter months, and lights nearly always play an important part in those various observations,

which makes total sense because the days are shorter in the winter, and thus we have more

hours of darkness for every 24-hour period. so lights would clearly be an important part of any

celebration during that part of the year. So, for example, the menorah in the Jewish faith

symbolizes how the macabees, when rededicating the Holy Temple, which they had just

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