American Christmas Traditions

When New Year’s Eve comes a lot of things happen around the world.  But if you are wondering what happens in just America well I will show you.  I will start off by mentioning the rose bowl parade.

The Rose Bowl parade is the most special parade in all of America.  It is tradition so it happens every year.  I have heard it is a very cool parade.  May be me, my mommy dad, and Aly can watch it on TV some time.  People even say parades like this can chase away the spirits.  This parade is held in Pasadena California.  And almost everyone in California either watches it or goes to it. Also people say there parade floats are really cool.  Also an interesting fact is that its nick name is “The Rose Parade”.

Another tradition some people celebrate is baby new year.  This tradition actually began in Greece when they celebrated the annual rebirth of Dyonysus, their god of fertility.  They would parade a baby around the streets for the celebration.  Egypt had a similar custom.  Although American Christians thought these celebrations involving other gods was wrong, they gave in when people began using babies as a symbol of the birth of Christ, celebrated just one week before at Christmas.

Another tradition is the the ball drop at Time Square in New York City is a tradition dating back more than 100 years.  Time Square holds one of the biggest parties in the country with millions in attendance or watching on television from all over the world.  The ball takes one minute to drop, with the final ten seconds counted down by people everywhere. The dropping of the ball marks the exact time of the passing of the old year into the beginning of New Year's Day.  While many believe this is a unique occurrence, time balls are used around the world to keep accurate and exact time. 

Another tradition is that our gossip magazines feature psychics giving predictions around the New Year holiday.  While some chuckle at the headlines in the checkout line while waiting to pay for our groceries, others wait with anticipation for the latest word on what will happen the following year.  The future holds great interest too many people.  In Germany, New Year's Day traditionally finds people dropping liquid lead into cold water to see what shapes will form. By reading the shapes like tea leaves, predictions are made.

Top Five Things That Made My List For Favorite Christmas Gifts

I got a lot of things for Christmas. But if I had to choose the five things I like the best and I will describe them. I would choose my laptop first.

My laptop is a Gateway. It is red and white; it also is a little heavy. But I do not care cause I got what I wanted for Christmas.  My grandma Linda gave me it.  It is very fast and I mostly use it to go to Facebook. The web browser is Mozilla Firefox.  My favorite game to play on it is angry birds star wars.  It is very handy because when and if we go on vacation I will have something to play on (and not one at someone’s house).  I also might use it in the car if my dad sets up his phone internet.

The second thing that was my favorite was my Barbie house. It is two stories high and is very pink. It has four rooms.  The rooms are a kitchen, a bathroom, the bed room, and the living room. The kitchen is really cool.  You can open its fridge and oven.  You can also flip the sink back to make a table. The bed flips out so you can have sleepovers with other Barbie dolls. It also has a toilet and a shower.  The toilet lid can even flip up!  However, I can’t get Barbie to sit on the toilet because they put a shelf where her head should be.

  

My third favorite thing is my Diary of Wimpy Kid movies.  I got two movies.  The first one I got was Rodrick Rules, and the second one I got was the first movie.  My Grandma Auskings gave me this movie because I have wanted them ever since I have started reading the books.  I have seen part of Rodrick rules but I forgot most of it.  I am going to watch them both with my mom when we have spare time.  I also think these movies will be very good and very funny.  If the books are just like the movies they will be.

My fourth favorite thing I got was my watches.  My watches are very pretty.  They are red and blue.  They have fake diamonds on the outside of them but they look real.  My Aunt Betty and Uncle Bill gave them to me for Christmas along with a Christmas orange.  They have no designs on them.  They are very easy to set you just turn the handle and the hands move.  But it has one flaw.  It is too small for my wrist so every time I put my hand down the hands move up.  It’s not so bad I mean it could be a lot worse.

My fifth favorite thing is my jewelry.  I got many different pieces of jewelry.  I got a matching earing and necklace set that are in the shape of an “A”.  They are really pretty. I got them in my stocking from Santa.  I also got two necklaces from my Ganny.  They are very long and very flashy.  They are also very pretty they have little trinkets on them too.  The necklaces even come with matching earrings that are cute!  I also got some earing from my aunt Chris.  They are pearls and diamonds.  Also yes they are very shiny and very pretty.

You might be wonder what made me choose these five things as my favorites.  Well they are all some of my favorites because they are stuff I really wanted.  I got most of the things I wanted this year.  I haved to say it has been a great christmas!

My Christmas Vactation

My Christmas vaction was a lot of fun. I got to go see my family in West Virginia. I even got to open presents early!
First I went to my Grandma Linda's. It was a long drive, so I was happy to finally sit down in a more comfortable chair. I sat down and listened to some music with my mom. After that I went to bed. The next day I woke up. I had some Apple Jacks for breakfast then the day got started.

That day we visited Aunt Lishy, Matty, and John. They gave us presents that were really cool! I got a Webkinz caterpillar, Alyson got a Hello Kitty toy, my mom got a Stephen King book, and my dad got a Cowboys themed portfolio.

After that we went and got lunch. We had Hardees. I had a taco there. Then we went back to grandma linda's and then we went to bed. The next day I woke up and my parents were packing to go back to our house.

Once they left, my Grandma Linda made us some dinner. A couple hours later we went to bed. The next morning we woke up and had some breakfast. Later that day, my Grandma Linda took me to my Pappie's house. It took like 35 minutes to get there. And when I got there my pappy was so happy to see me. He had bought a new tree for me, him, and aly to put up, but we had to wait a day. He had his old tree up.

Later that day, we decided to clean out one of his desk drawers. We cleaned as much as we could until 6:00pm. Then we went to Little Caesar's and ordered one large cheese pizza and some Italian bread. We had to wait a while for our pizza. It was worth it, as they gave us a free peperronni pizza! When we got back to his house we sat down and enjoyed the pizza. A couple hours later we went to bed.

The next day, we woke up, had breakfast, and got our day started. We went shopping for things me and my sister would eat. After we finished shopping we went back to his house.

Near lunch time Aly arrived. She was happy to see me and Pappy! Later that day me and Aly and Pappie put up the new tree. Me and Aly hung ornaments while Pappie assembled the tree. Then Pappie made his famous spaghetti. When he finished cooking it Pappie made his plate and I made mine and Aly's plate. After we finished eating we watched some tv. After that we went to bed.

The week passed. It did snow for a day. Then after that it didn't snow. So when my time with Pappie was up I headed back to my Grandma Linda's.

When we got there we ate popcorn chicken and fries. Then we opened presents! I got a laptop, a bubbleizer, a Barbie carrying case, and much more!

So when I spent the last days with Grandma Linda it was Christmas Eve. We headed out to my Grandma Auskings house for the Christmas party. When we got there, there were about seven people there. We waited for about 45 minutes until we could eat.

After we ate we all exchanged gifts. I got two movies, some earrings, and a doll. After we were done with the gifts we gave everyone a hug and headed to the car to go to our house.

Salmonella

Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella that grade in all directions. They are chemoorganotrophs, obtaining their energy from oxidation and reduction reactions using organic sources, and are facultative anaerobes. Most species produce hydrogen sulfide, which can readily be detected by growing them on media containing ferrous sulfate, such as TSI. Most isolates exist in two phases: a motile phase I and a nonmotile phase II. Cultures that are nonmotile upon primary culture may be switched to the motile phase using a Cragie tube. Salmonella is closely related to the Escherichia genus and are found worldwide in cold- and warm-blooded animals (including humans), and in the environment. They cause illnesses such as typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and foodborne illness. The organism enters through the digestive tract and must be ingested in large numbers to cause disease in healthy adults. Gastric acidity is responsible for the destruction of the majority of ingested bacteria. Salmonellosis is a disease caused by raw or undercooked food. Infection usually occurs when a person ingests foods that contain a high concentration of the bacteria, similar to a culture medium. However, infants and young children are much more susceptible to infection, easily achieved by ingesting a small number of bacteria. In infants, contamination through inhalation of bacteria-laden dust is possible. After a short incubation period of a few hours to one day, the germs multiply in the intestinal lumen, causing an intestinal inflammation with diarrhea that is often mucopurulent and bloody. In infants, dehydration can cause a state of severe toxicosis. The symptoms are usually mild. Normally, no sepsis occurs, but it can occur exceptionally as a complication in weakened or elderly patients. Extraintestinal localizations are possible, especially Salmonella meningitis in children, osteitis, etc. Enteritis Salmonella can cause diarrhea, which usually does not require antibiotic treatment. However, in people at risk such as infants, small children, the elderly, Salmonella infections can become very serious, leading to complications. If these are not treated, HIV patients and those with suppressed immunity can become seriously ill. Children with sickle cell anaemia who are infected with Salmonella may develop osteomyeletis. In Germany, Salmonella infections must be reported. Between 1990 and 2005, the number of officially recorded cases decreased from approximately 200,000 to approximately 50,000 cases. Every fifth person in Germany is thought to carry Salmonella. In the USA, about 40,000 cases of Salmonella infection are reported each year. According to the World Health Organization, over 16 million people worldwide are infected with typhoid fever each year, with 500,000 to 600,000 fatal cases. Salmonella bacteria can survive for weeks outside a living body, and they are not destroyed by freezing. Ultraviolet radiation and heat accelerate their demise; they perish after being heated to 55 C (131 F) for 90 min, or to 60 C (140 F) for 12 min. To protect against Salmonella infection, heating food for at least ten minutes at 75 C (167 F) is recommended, so the center of the food reaches this temperature. So You see salmonella is a very bad infection that anyone can get to avoid salmonella always make sure to cook food at the time it says to cook.

History Of Hanukkah

The events that inspired the Hanukkah holiday took place during a particularly turbulent phase of Jewish history. Around 200 BC Judea also known as the Land of Israel came under the control of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to continue practicing their religion. His son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, proved less benevolent: Ancient sources recount that he outlawed the Jewish religion and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods. In 168 BC his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls. Led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Matthathias died in 166 BC his son Judah, known as Judah Maccabee “the Hammer”, took the helm; within two years the Jews had successfully driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying largely on guerilla warfare tactics. Judah called on his followers to cleanse the Second Temple, rebuild its altar and light its menorah the gold candelabrum whose seven branches represented knowledge and creation and were meant to be kept burning every night.According to the Talmud, one of Judaism’s most central texts, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews who took part in the rededication of the Second Temple witnessed what they believed to be a miracle. Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day, the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to find a fresh supply. This wondrous event inspired the Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight day festival. The first Book of the Maccabees tells another version of the story, describing an eight-day celebration that followed the rededication but making no reference to the miracle of the oil.Some modern historians offer a radically different interpretation of the Hanukkah tale. In their view, Jerusalem under Antiochus IV had erupted into between two camps of Jews: those who had assimilated into the dominant culture that surrounded them, adopting Greek and Syrian customs; and those who were determined to impose Jewish laws and traditions, even if by force. The traditionalists won out in the end, with the Hasmonean dynasty led by Judah Maccabee’s brother and his descendants wresting control of the Land of Israel from the Seleucids and maintaining an independent Jewish kingdom for more than a century. Jewish scholars have also suggested that the first Hanukkah may have been a belated celebration of Sukkot, which the Jews had not had the chance to observe during the Maccabean Revolt. One of the Jewish religion’s most important holidays, Sukkot consists of seven days of feasting, prayer and festivities.The Hanukkah celebration revolves around the kindling of a nine-branched menorah, known in Hebrew as the hanukiah. On each of the holiday’s eight nights, another candle is added to the menorah after sundown; the ninth candle, called the shamash, is used to light the others. Jews typically recite blessings during this ritual and display the menorah prominently in a window as a reminder to others of the miracle that inspired the holiday. In another allusion to the Hanukkah miracle, traditional Hanukkah foods are fried in oil. Potato pancakes and jam filled donuts are particularly popular in many Jewish households. Other Hanukkah customs include playing with four-sided spinning tops called dreidels and exchanging gifts. In recent decades, particularly in North America, Hanukkah has exploded into a major commercial phenomenon, largely because it falls near or overlaps with Christmas. From a religious perspective, however, it remains a relatively minor holiday that places no restrictions on working, attending school or other activities.

History Of The Christmas Tree

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death. Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles. Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans. It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims's second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out "pagan mockery" of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions" of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated "that sacred event." In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy. In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived. By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling. The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

Wrapping Paper

Wrapping a holiday gift can be as much fun as purchasing and giving it. Gifts have been wrapped since 105 AD, the time of paper invention. In China the entire paper making process was considered sacred and kept a secret. Giving the secret of making paper to someone could be punishable by death. The history of wrapping presents for Christmas did not flourish until the Victorian period. Since that time, it seems like the gift wrapping business has soared and soared in popularity! During the Victorian period giving Christmas gifts was considered a privilege for the wealthy. The lower class did not participate in the holiday ritual. The wrapping paper of that time was elaborately printed and topped with ribbons and laces. It was also too expensive for the lower class to purchase. Some of the paper had pictures of houses in the snow, fireplaces, robins, angels, holly boughs, churches, and St. Nicholas. The printing press had developed to the point that mass quantities of durable paper could be produced in a short period of time. Because the paper was so sturdy it was difficult to bend and wrap boxes with; but the end result was worth the pain. In the United States gift wrapping began to be popular in the early 1920’s. Plain tissue paper in red, green, and white had been used prior to this time. The tissue paper was flimsy and sometimes the colors would bleed. Wrapping paper often fell off of the gift or tore before the gift giving process actually occurred. The industry leader in gift wrap is the Hallmark Company. Yes, Joyce C. Hall, the founder of the company invented the greeting card and the wrapping paper we use today. Today’s paper is still durable but easily folded. The actual invention of Hallmark’s wrapping paper was an accident and not an invention.The Hall Brother’s store sold out of the tissue paper during the holiday season of 1917. Decorative envelope liners, made of elaborately adorned paper, began to sell for wrapping use. The liners had been purchased from a French factory. At ten cents a sheet they were snapped up quickly. The next year the Halls displayed the same style of envelope liner wrapping paper at three sheets for twenty-five cents. The marketing plan was a success and followed for many years to come. Today consumers garnish packages with self-adhesive ribbons, matching gift cards, and bows of metallic. The pattern options and color selections are endless. The wrapping paper business pulls in millions of dollars with most of their sales occurring in late November or the entire month of December. Hallmark remains the industry sales leader in wrapping paper. Nothing is prettier that a pile of beautifully wrapped boxes underneath a Christmas tree. Wrapping paper has been around a long time and there are many different papers you got your color wrapping paper, your festive wrapping paper and many other styles of paper. All wrapping paper really is is just speacialy made paper with designs on it.

History Of Mistletoe

The Christmas custom of kissing underneath a branch of mistletoe goes back hundreds of years, certainly to the early 17th century. But legends about the curious plant go back even farther, even to the time of Christ and earlier. One legend has it that the wood of the cross of Christ was made from mistletoe, and supposedly for that reason the mistletoe plant has been doomed to live as a parasite, and is so classified today, making it condemned to live on the goodwill of other trees. Shakespeare in Titus Andronicus called it "the baleful mistletoe," no doubt referring to the fact that in large quantities the waxy white berries are toxic. On the other hand, ancient Druids thought the plant had healing, even magical, powers. Back in Roman times in Britain, Pliny the Elder referred to the habit of Druid priests of cutting away mistletoe from oak trees where it attached itself, using golden sickles and spreading white cloth on the ground under the tree lest the trimmings touch the ground and risk losing their powers. The Druids elevated mistletoe to sacred powers, even using it in ceremonies of human sacrifice. Unlike other plants, mistletoe retained its fresh green color, and the evergreen therefore became a symbol of fertility. They also hung it over doorways to protect against evil. Because of the Druids' use of mistletoe, Christians banned its use in their churches in England. Because mistletoe grows primarily on apple, lime, poplar and hawthorn trees in the midlands and up to and around York, it was a local favorite there long after the Druids were in decline. So in the famous minster at York, its use during the holiday season has always been retained. In the York cathedral the minister placed the branch on the High Altar and procalimed "public and universal liberty, pardon and freedom of all sorts of inferior and wicked people at the minster gates, and the gates of the city, towards the four quarters of heaven." In the 21st century the Dean informally hung a bunch of mistletoe and holly from the High Altar at noon on Christmas Eve, although the custom was more general good will than intended as an encouragement of kissing in its presence. Strictly speaking, kissing under the mistletoe was never to get out of hand, and often nearly did. To prevent abuses, the custom was defined as a man might steal a kiss under the hanging branch, but when he did, one berry was to be plucked from the plant and discarded. Once the berries were gone, the kissing charm of the mistletoe branch was spent, although that aspect of the custom is rarely recalled in these days. During the 19th century abuses of the kissing custom were prevalent, according to a verse written and called "The Mistletoe Bough." Interestingly, during uptight Victorian times, the custom came into full bloom! Despite the mixed lore regarding Viscum album, the English mistletoe plant, its culture is a profitable business in Great Britain today. All through December mistletoe farmers carefully cut boughs from the mistletoe in their apple orchards or on other host trees. Unlike the Druids with the golden boughs, hook the mistletoe sprays with a long pole, careful to leave some bunches behind to ensure a crop the following year. It is mostly birds who propagate the mistletoe , however. Some farmers call the birds "the professional" in promulgating mistletoe, while they themselves are the amateurs. Each year large numbers of Druid followers came to celebrate the winter solstice in fields full of mistletoe in the orchards of Hertferdshire. Their orations and music fascinate local farmers, who often adapt bits of the folklore of this "special branch." One farmer kept his mistletoe decoration from one Christmas to the next. When he had brought in the fresh sprays, he burned the old and ran around as many of his fields as possible with the flaming brands, in the belief that the ancient plant would bless each field with a prolific harvest. Another legend has it that a sprig of mistletoe placed over a baby's cradle will ensure that the child will never be kidnapped. While much of the plant's history is shrouded in untiold tales of the past, it is undeniably blessed with certain sacred associations and perhaps even occult powers. When the farmers and gypsies who have been gathering wild or cultivated mistletoe are ready with their annual crop for selling at the end of November, they gather at auctions in the towns of the Midlands and thereabouts and sell. The current crop went for up to 1 Pound Sterling per pound, a decent price for a priceless branch.

History Of Ornaments

The detailed study of Eurasian ornamental forms was begun by Alois Riegl in his formalist study Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik (Problems of style: foundations for a history of ornament) of 1893, who in the process developed his influential concept of the Kunstwollen. Riegl traced formalistic continuity and development in decorative plant forms from Ancient Egyptian art and other ancient Near Eastern civilizations through the classical world to the arabesque of Islamic art; while the Kunstwollen has few followers today, his basic analysis of the development of forms has been confirmed and refined by the wider corpus of examples known today. Jessica Rawson has recently extended the analysis to cover Chinese art, which Riegl did not cover, tracing many elements of Chinese decoration back to the same tradition; the shared background helping to make the assimilation of Chinese motifs into Persian art after the Mongol invasion harmonious and productive. Styles of ornamentation can be studied in reference to the specific culture which developed unique forms of decoration, or modified ornament from other cultures. The Ancient Egyptian culture is arguably the first civilization to add pure decoration to their buildings. Their ornament takes the forms of the natural world in that climate, decorating the capitals of columns and walls with images of papyrus and palm trees. Assyrian culture produced ornament which shows influence from Egyptian sources and a number of original themes, including figures of plants and animals of the region. Ancient Greek civilization created many new forms of ornament, with regional variations from Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian groups. The Romans Latinized the pure forms of the Greek ornament and adapted the forms to every purpose.From the 15th to the 19th century, "Pattern books" were published in Europe which gave access to decorative elements, eventually including those recorded from cultures all over the world. Andrea Palladio's I quattro libri dell'architettura (Four Books on Architecture) (Venice, 1570. which included both drawings of classical Roman buildings and renderings of Palladio's own designs utilizing those motifs, became the most influential book ever written on architecture. Napoleon had the great pyramids and temples of Egypt documented in the Description de l'Egypte (1809). Owen Jones published The Grammar of Ornament in 1856 with colored illustrations of decoration from Egypt, Turkey, Sicily and Spain. He took residence in the Alhambra Palace to make drawings and plaster castings of the ornate details. Interest in classical architecture was also fueled by the tradition of traveling on The Grand Tour, and by translation of early literature about architecture in the work of Vitruvius and Michelangelo. During the 19th century, the acceptable use of ornament, and its precise definition became the source of aesthetic controversy in academic Western architecture, as architects and their critics searched for a suitable style. "The great question is," Thomas Leverton Donaldson asked in 1847, "are we to have an architecture of our period, a distinct, individual, palpable style of the 19th century?".1849, when Matthew Digby Wyatt viewed the French Industrial Exposition set up on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, he disapproved in recognizably modern terms of the plaster ornaments in faux-bronze and faux woodgrain: Both internally and externally there is a good deal of tasteless and unprofitable ornament... If each simple material had been allowed to tell its own tale, and the lines of the construction so arranged as to conduce to a sentiment of grandeur, the qualities of "power" and "truth," which its enormous extent must have necessarily ensured, could have scarcely fail to excite admiration, and that at a very considerable saving of expense.Contacts with other cultures through colonialism and the new discoveries of archaeology expanded the repertory of ornament available to revivalists. After about 1880, photography made details of ornament even more widely available than prints had done.