Let’s not steal the light!
Every year again: In the US Christmas classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a villain tries to spoil the mood in a village community by stealing all items related to the Festival of Lights. But the residents of Whoville push the plan: They show the curmudgeon that Christmas can be celebrated without gifts, fairy lights and other superficial things and is more than a festival of consumption and superficial effects.
Seen in this light, Berlin could bear with the fact that the Senate no longer wants to subsidize the Christmas lighting on Ku’damm and Unter der Linden this year for cost reasons. We all have to save from war and crises. Our tax money is used to help those in need. And the Christmas message of love and hope can also be passed on without fairy lights.
But that is too short-sighted. Because this is about more than looks. The decision between light and dark is also one about how much we want our everyday life to be determined by the energy crisis and other consequences of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The light is a symbol that, especially in these times, can not only give people confidence, but also sends the message out into the world that one does not give in to challenges so easily.
There are also very practical considerations: In Berlin, public fairy lights hang primarily in places that are important for trade and other sectors of the economy. If the lights go out, this should lead to a decline in sales in sectors that have already been badly hit by the corona crisis and the war.
The hundreds of thousands of euros that Berlin saves by eliminating state subsidies for fairy lights may then later be missing from the retailers’ coffers – and indirectly from the state’s tax revenue.
So what would be a solution that takes into account both the current need to limit yourself to the essentials and the symbolic season? If you take a closer look at what is actually so expensive about Berlin’s Christmas lights, you quickly learn: It’s not the fairy lights themselves. Thanks to LED technology, they have been of the economical variety for years – even if, in the interest of climate protection, they should soon be replaced by even more economical solar models.
However, the biggest cost is somewhere else: The most expensive part of the public Christmas light is the assembly and dismantling. Why don’t we just leave the decorations hanging on the boulevards all year round and switch them on whenever there’s something to celebrate?
This would also be a way of celebrating Berlin’s character as a multicultural metropolis. Who says that people only need light for the great festival of Christianity? Instead, Berlin’s boulevards should also light up for Hanukkah, the feast of the breaking of the fast and other holidays that mean something to the people of this city. That would be a signal well beyond Christmas and the current crisis that Berlin is doing well.
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