What A Nutcracker Is Actually Used For
You don't say...
The figurine is a staple in so many homes at Christmas time, most just displaying it as a decoration. But did you know it has an actual function? Turns out, the true function of nutcrackers lies within its name.
People have taken to social media to express their surprise after discovering nutcrackers are used to crack nuts.
It may seem obvious given the name of the figurine, but it seems to have gone right over so many people’s heads. If you check the hashtag on social media, you may be shocked to see how many people had no idea of its function.
According to The Nutcracker Museum, wood carvers in France and England were creating delicately carved intricate nutcrackers resembling humans and animals by the 15th century.
But the nutcracker figurine as we know it today, which resembles toy soldiers with buttoned blazers and top hats, didn’t come into fruition until the 19th century.
German woodworker Wilhelm Füchtner, known as the father of the nutcracker, was the first to commercially produce the nutcracker in 1872 — using the nutcracker from Heinrich Hoffmann’s story “King Nutcracker and Poor Reinhold” as his inspiration.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” ballet debuted in 1892 — which has kept renewed interest in the figurine each year.
