Light Christmas

For North Americans and Europeans who are used to freezing temperatures and snow at Christmas time, spending the holiday season in temperate Medellín might seem a bit surreal.  Lying just north of the Equator, there isn’t much seasonal change in the City of Eternal Spring, where temperatures hover around 22°C year-round.

Instead of a White Christmas, Colombians treat themselves to a “light Christmas.”  Preparations for the alumbrados (light displays) in the cities begin as early as two months before the big day. Some of the most intricate displays contain several million lights, and each one revolves around a specific theme. There is an informal competition amongst the biggest cities in Colombia for the best alumbrados, and year after year Medellín is considered the uncontested winner.

Medellín’s most famous light display is located in the park next to the Medellín River, which city officials begin turning into a pedestrian promenade as early as October.  The river lights adopt a different theme each year, and this year’s display featured the region’s local flora and fauna.  Strings of lights crossed the river in the shapes of plants and flowers, and illuminated animals and insects ran along the promenade, where visitors strolled past vendors selling grilled meat and beer.  

It isn’t common for two of Globalteer'sVolunteer Colombia Kids projects to gather together for an outing because they are pretty far away from each other, but the alumbrados are a special occasion.  On a recent late Friday afternoon, the staff, volunteers and children from one project in the hillside descended into the heart of the city and met up with everyone from the inner-city project in Medellín’s central BarefootPark.  As soon as they arrived the kids, numbering well over a hundred, took off their shoes as fast as possible so that they could splash about in the water and run through the gravel playground, while waiting for the sun to set.  

As the sky began to change color the group began a short walk over to the river, with the adults and older kids looking after the little ones.  After twenty minutes walking along the darkening promenade, they arrived at the traditional starting point, which features intricate fountains and random jets of water shooting out of grates that are illuminated by multicolored lights.  At around 6:00pm, the holiday lights along the river were turned on, to the delight of the children, while the adult chaperones began the difficult task of keeping up with the kids who started running every which way.  Soon the entire length of the promenade was filled with exuberant children climbing on top of animals, insects and trees made of lights.  Several hours later they had exhausted themselves, and the two projects parted ways until their next big outing.