From Pennsylvania German putz; compare archaic German Putz (“ornament, decoration, finery”), putzen (“to clean; decorate”).

Christmas villages or putz houses were originally nativity scenes placed under the Christmas tree. These popular paper houses were decorated with mica glitter “snow”, bottle brush trees, tiny reindeer and even snowmen.

The name for Putz houses evolved from the German word “putzen” which means to clean or to decorate. And the name was acquired by little houses that were placed around the nativity scene for Christmas decorations in the early 1900s. Yes, these adorable little houses have been around for about 100 years.

The little cardboard houses were originally made from old German Candy Boxes. They later transformed into Japanese-made pasteboard houses with coconut roofs and little cellophane windows that glowed when you stuck a bulb in the back.

Many baby boomers remember their family building little communities around their nativity, Christmas tree, or train set at the holidays. Quite a few remember including inexpensive, glitter-sprinkled buildings made of pasteboard and imported from Japan.

Most popular were the putz sheep. They became known as matchstick sheep because their wooden legs resembled burnt matchsticks. They were made in graduated sizes, from tiny sheep measuring about an inch in height to much larger ones several inches tall.

Pam, I have been using the patterns for your Putz houses and making them as quarter-inch scale doll houses. So far I have built 9 of them with the idea that I will create a neighborhood beneath one of the trees in my living room this year. They have interiors and lighting.