Hell, one of my friends fathers grew up in rural Sicily; he can remember the excitement at the first mechanical tractor to arrive in the village back in the 1960s.
One year, for christmas, he was gifted an orange - in midwinter! There was considerable speculation about how far it must have traveled.
Nearly every item on your list was a change he saw in his lifetime - the date a technology was widespread in the area it was invented can be separated by several decades from the date it becomes widespread globally.
One year, for christmas, he was gifted an orange - in midwinter! There was considerable speculation about how far it must have traveled.
Was that really all that uncommon, though? My father, born in the 50's, always associated oranges with christmas - it was their season, after all. For me, my parents kept up a tradition of giving an apple and an orange in stockings - this was in the late 70's to the 90's. Many years later, I moved to Norway, where I can buy boxes of mandarin oranges every christmas, as they are a traditional christmas time food (Last year was filled with mandarin cocktails to use up the box).
Not to mention the prevalence of things like clove-studded oranges that pop up around christmas.
From what I can tell, not associating oranges with Christmas is really a more modern take on the holiday, as at one time, they were in season around the holidays.
In Norway during December, 'normal' temperatures are a daily maximum of 5c. That's not fruit-growing weather for any variety I'm aware of.
However, it's true that fruit was a common Christmas gift - specifically because it wasn't in season & was therefore hard to come by. Eating common, readily-available food would hardly be appropriate for a major celebration.
One year, for christmas, he was gifted an orange - in midwinter! There was considerable speculation about how far it must have traveled.
Nearly every item on your list was a change he saw in his lifetime - the date a technology was widespread in the area it was invented can be separated by several decades from the date it becomes widespread globally.