This Glittery Soldier with Spear
stands 10 inches tall and is wearing a black helmet with a big triangle section has gold glitter with gold stones and a gold sequence. He is ready for battle holding a glitter silver and gold spear. The Wooden Nutcrackers Soldiers uniform is a spectacular red jacket, blue trousers, and black boots that have a gold glitter border at the top of each boot and a yellow stone right in the middle. His jacket has a neat x shaped design on the front that is gold glitter and outlined in blue. The same gold glitter outlined with blue is also on his cuffs and shoulders. This Christmas Nutcracker Decorations have a gold glitter belt with a yellow stone for the belt buckle and he is standing on a 2.5x2.5 inch red base with a gold trim. Select to see a complete listing of our Christmas Decorations Ideas.
The Story of The Nutcracker
The combination of a useful tool and a figural form with a human appearance was well accepted by the mid 18th century. In the toy making center of Sonneberg, in the Thuringian Forest, there was mention in 1735 of nut biters that operated according to the principles of leverage. These nut biters were described as sturdy, energetic forms with large heads. Two moving arms on the back of the head allowed the lower jaw to push the nut against the upper jaw. In a carnival parade in 1783, students from Freisingen, Germany presented large models of Berchtesgaden wares, including a nut biter in the form of a little man whose mouth and stomach were one and the same. Select this link to view our Christmas Nutcrackers Village People.
The literary career of the nutcracker began with the 1816 publication of E.T.A. Hoffmann's fairy tale Nussknacker und Mausekönig, a children's book that helped bring the nutcracker into broader popularity. In the spirit of a time when the importance of the family and children was beginning to be emphasized, Hoffmann vividly depicted a sympathetic soul, Under the Christmas tree a very excellent little man became visible that stood there still and modest. He waited as if they would all come to him. The job of the nutcracker was to work hard for the children of the family by biting open the nuts. Select this link to view our Nutcracker Ornaments.
Thirty five years after the publication of E.T.A. Hoffmann's classic, the nutcracker reappeared as a central character in Heinrich Hoffmann's story King Nutcracker and the Poor Reinhold 1851. In this story the poor Reinhold becomes acquainted with the Nutcracker King in a dream. Select this link to view our Wooden Nutcrackers Soldiers.
The nutcracker did not always play the role of the good-hearted fairy tale king. More often he wore a monk's robe or was made into the form of a mean-looking policeman, a Turk, master of the watch, a cavalry man or some other grotesque helmeted figure with a long nose. He appeared, for example, as a caricature of Napoleon on a 1813 Parisian picture-sheet. By the end of the 19th century he appeared almost consistently in the catalogs of the toy wholesalers as a representative of the contemporary authorities. What started out as a practical tool often ended up as an expression of light irony and a social critique by the common people. Select this link to view our Christmas Nutcracker Decorations.
