Prague lights up the Christmas tree – News list
As you can see on Friday in the video at the beginning of this text, the capital lit a Christmas tree in the Old Town Square in the evening.
Six kilometers of chains of light, several hundred Christmas balls in blue, white, and red, and forty stars of light, all hung on eighteen-foot-tall spruce trees, need to be lit up. But it has one catch. The public must not see it.
The event, which attracts thousands of heads of spectators every year, must remain strictly secret due to Covid-19 as a related measure. Government regulations prohibit the grouping of a larger number of people.
Friday’s lighting was supposed to be a rehearsal, but in the end the town hall left the tree lit. Councilor Jan Chabr (TOP 09) told ČTK that the representatives of the city management finally spontaneously decided during the rehearsal that they would no longer spoil the Christmas atmosphere and leave the lights on.
The Christmas tree was originally supposed to light up sometime on the weekend, at an unspecified time. “Unfortunately, for security reasons, we are forced to organize the lighting of the Christmas tree without the classic accompanying program. I would like to thank all Praguers for their approach so far in the fight against the covid-19 pandemic and ask them to understand the complexity of the situation and respect government measures, even if the Christmas tree is lit, “he said before Friday’s lighting of Mayor Zdeněk Hřib.
This year, people decided on the form of lighting by voting on social networks. The tricolor is intended to commemorate the centenary of the official state symbols, including the national flag.
Compared to previous years, I will not have any animation at regular times. The illumination thus returns to the more traditional form of Czech Christmas, when it shines statically. This year, the metropolis will place a second tree on Mariánské náměstí in front of the New Town Hall of the City of Prague.
The epidemic situation will probably not allow the organization of traditional Christmas markets and the accompanying program, the town hall would like to ensure the location of several stalls with refreshments.