Sparks of colour, light : Christmas decors from around the world
From motionless elves to fascinating illuminations, streets around the world are lighting up with a kaleidoscope of colours.
Christmas is incomplete without its décor ambience–one that blends its red and green theme beautiful.
Here are few of such decors from around the world from the eyes of theghanareport.com and CNN
GHANA
Ghana is crowning the ‘Year of Return’ with a combo of events. For the first time in years, almost every important monument in Accra is competing with Christmas decor for attention. The city is brightening moods after a year-long reminder of the pain and brutality of slavery.
VATICAN
A 2,000year-old story combines with a modern message with a crib and Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square. The crib was the work of Maltese artist Manuel Grech, with a reference to the tragedy of migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean while fleeing violence in the Middle East.
BRAZIL
South America’s largest country is big on bold colours, and even the buses get the illuminated Christmas treatment in São Paulo. The “Feliz Natal” sign means “Merry Christmas” in Portuguese. Click through the gallery for more pictures of Christmas decor around the world.
COLOMBIA
In Cali, family members light candles during Día de las Velitas (Day of the Little Candles). This traditional Colombian celebration marks the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. People light candles in their homes and on streetlights as well as visit cemeteries to decorate the graves of their dead with flowers, lanterns and candles.
DENMARK: Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen is a favourite playground for Danes and tourists. And they go all-out each year decorating this longtime amusement park for Christmas. Along with enjoying the lights and other holiday decorations, kids can ride a special Elf Train.
EGYPT
Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, and they enjoy the decorating and festivities as people do all over the world. Here, Christmas stock is displayed at a store in the Shubra district of Cairo, which has a large Coptic Christian community.
GREECE
People walk past a traditional Christmas boat decorated with colourful lights docked in the Thermaic Gulf off the shores of Thessaloniki. Greeks are increasingly turning to decorate small Christmas boats instead of trees.
It’s Saxophone Santa in Navi Mumbai (formerly known as New Bombay). Christians make up only 2.3 per cent of India’s population, but that’s still about 28 million followers. You’ll find Santas and other secular items in shops, while you’re likely to find poinsettias in churches.
KENYA
Shoppers take photos with their mobile phones of musically inclined Santa Claus dolls in Nairobi. The website whychristmas.com says “houses and churches are often decorated with colourful balloons, ribbons, paper decorations, flowers and green leaves” during Christmas.
NEW ZEALAND
Like many places, homeowners in New Zealand love to decorate with a multitude of Christmas lights. They are particularly enthusiastic about this lights craft on Franklin Road in Auckland, drawing large crowds. Can’t make it? Check out this YouTube video.
SWEEDEN
Thousands of lights decorate moose statues in Stockholm. The capital of Sweden strings up lights and decorations around more than 30 streets, squares and marketplaces, glistening and glimmering of Santas, moose, stars and other decorations.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Asheville, North Carolina, has a well-deserved reputation for a funky arts and crafts scene and lively neighbourhoods — so it’s natural to see homes all decked out for the holidays here. Biltmore Estate is a popular place to go see classic Christmas decorations.
In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a window display features an antique Santa Claus doll, Western shirt and a “jackalope,” a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns.
RUSSIA
Christmas baubles coated in ice hang on a tree in Manezhnaya Square in Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church still uses the old Julian Calendar, so Christmas for most Christians in Russia falls on January 7. Nesting dolls with a Christmas theme are a popular decoration.
UK
They’re all about tradition here, and the Christmas windows at Harrods are crowd favourite. Londoners and visitors flock to the department store to see what creative displays will go up next.