Archive. Photo by Ruslan Lytvyn
Today, 17 December at 6 p.m., festivities with the lighting of the city’s main Christmas tree will begin in the center of Lviv, on Svobody Avenue. This year, it will be a special attraction, symbolizing family and family values. This was announced by Natalia Bunda, the head of the City Council’s Department of Development.
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The festivities will begin at 6 p.m. As is tradition, members of the patriotic organisation «Plast», which is Ukrainian equivalent to Scout, will transmit the Bethlehem Fire to Lviv. It symbolises the spread of peace from the place of Jesus Christ’s birth to all parts of the world, and everyone in Lviv will be able to take the fire to their home. In addition, the Dudaryk choir will perform during the event, as well as a planned concert by Pavlo Tabakov and the band DykoBrass. The lighting of the Christmas tree will take place at about 6.20 pm, so everyone is invited to come to the square.
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According to Natalia Bunda, the Lviv Christmas tree will be decorated with new elements, namely diamond-shaped ornaments.
«This year in Lviv, there will be a new New Year’s concept of lighting, both Christmas trees and the city. Diamond-shaped decorations, which are symbols of the genus’ power, will hang at the heart of the tree. We want to focus the attention of Lviv residents on family and family values. The Christmas spider will be another symbol, traditional for Ukrainian families, which they locate in their homes. We are trying to turn Lviv into a big house where one family rules. We want both tourists and guests of the city to feel comfortable at home,» – Natalia Bunda says.
According to the city official, on the Christmas tree you can see about 80 diamonds measuring 40 by 50 cm.
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This year’s Christmas tree will glow soft-yellow, diluted with white diamond-shaped lights. We will note that most Ukrainians belong to Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches that celebrate Christmas 7 January, following the Julian calendar.
There will be a new fence around the Christmas tree – made of Daria Aloshkina‘s paper lace.
We will remind you that Lviv Now prepared a selection of the main Christmas attractions you can visit in Lviv this winer.
Olha Shveda
Translated by Vitalii Holich
You can read a Ukrainian language version of this story here.
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Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
