The history of nutcrackers goes all the way back more than two thousand years. Historians say that actually the very first nutcracker was crafted by the Greek Aristotle who was trying to make something to crack the nut shells. This device was simple made with only two levers and did help to open the nut shells and rapidly become popular. Archeologists have found many bronze nutcrackers while studying ancient burial grounds which prove this fact and the archeologists have also came to believe that these nutcrackers were very considered of great value to them in ancient years because they were found in the graves. Later the nutcrackers were made not only to crack nut shells but to decorate also. King Henry VIII decided that a decorative nutcracker was the perfect gift for his wife Anna Boleyn. Leonardo DaVinci also added a little to the nutcracker history by inventing a device to craft these nutcrackers and other wooden figurines.
In South Tyrol, located in Italy, woodcrafters would design decorative nutcrackers to bring humor and fun by giving them whimsical looks and expressions and today is well known for the hand carved nativity scenes instead of the nutcrackers. Erzgebirge is now well known as the center of production of the nutcrackers.
The look of the traditional nutcracker was an authority figure because the citizens feared them so they could create these nutcrackers to give the citizens the opportunity to express their criticisms and feelings without the threat of consequences from the authority figures themselves.