Officially, Christmas season is still more than a month away, yet the Salamanca City Council has taken the decision to turn the holiday lights on the streets early on this year. This will happen this Friday, 13 November and perhaps after the wild year Spain and the rest of the world have experienced this is an example others could heed and copy in order to cheer up downtrodden spirits.
The only Spanish city to have Christmas lights in every neighbourhood
Still, the formal reason given by the authorities as to the advanced placement of lights this year was not as much about collective therapy as it had to do with showing support and solidarity with local retail businesses.
Responding to a request by local merchant associations, the City Hall has found it beneficial to help encourage the holiday spirit on the streets as this could also stimulate shopping and thus rejuvenate the depressed economic activity in Salamanca.
The city authorities have used the occasion to remind everyone that they are also the only Spanish city to place Christmas lighting in each of its neighbourhoods. What is more, it was announced that this year this joyful service will expand even more and it will be placed on more than 90 streets and squares for a total of 724 decorations, including street lamps, arches and other motifs.
The pièce de résistance of the whole set-up will be the 10-metre conical tree that will be put in Plaza Mayor – the arched central square of the city.
Besides lights and colours, creating a joyful mood would be unthinkable without Christmas carols and songs. However, due to the health situation derived from the coronavirus pandemic, the concert of the Salamanca Children’s Choir that accompanies the act of turning on the lights, this year can be followed on the City Council’s YouTube channel.
Source: TheMayor.EU
