The Mount Ingino Christmas Tree is a lighting illumination in the shape of a Christmas tree that is installed annually on the slopes of Mount Ingino (Monte Ingino in Italian) outside the city of Gubbio, in the Umbria region in Italy. The tree is also called the Gubbio Christmas Tree or the biggest Christmas tree in the world. [1] [2] In 1991 the Guinness Book of Records named it "The World's Largest Christmas Tree". [3]
The tree is 650 metres (2,130 ft) high and 350 m wide at its base and consists of 3000 multi-coloured lights and 8.5 kilometres of electrical cable, placed all the way up the slopes of Monte Ingino, which towers above the city. The illumination can be seen up to 50 kilometres (30 miles) away. [4]
This tradition started when the people of Gubbio decided to celebrate Christmas in a different way and in 1981 the first tree was illuminated. Each year, on the eve of the feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 7), the Christmas tree is lit up. [5] Since then the tradition is repeated annually thanks to a special committee consisting of volunteers giving up their free time for about three months every year. [ citation needed ]
Since 2010 electricity for the Christmas tree lights has been generated by the photovoltaic system. [6]
In 2011 the lights were switched on remotely by Pope Benedict XVI using a tablet computer. [7] The Pope spoke via video link to the people of Gubbio from his papal apartment in Vatican. [8]
In 2013, the holiday display used 1,000 lights[ citation needed ] and stretched more than 1,000 square meters or 10, 760 square feet. [9]
In 2013, Don Francesco Soddu, Director of Italian CARITAS led the lighting ceremony. [10] This was a tribute to the contribution of volunteers in times of emergency in Italian communities.
In 2014 the lights were switched on remotely by Pope Francis using a tablet computer. [11]
In 2017 the lights were switched on remotely by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli while he was in the International Space Station. [12]
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas.
Umbria is a region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Apennine Peninsula. The regional capital is Perugia.
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day. Together, both days are considered one of the most culturally significant celebrations in Christendom and Western society.
Christmas lights are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom goes back to when Christmas trees were decorated with candles, which symbolized Christ being the light of the world. The Christmas trees were brought by Christians into their homes in early modern Germany.
Gubbio is an Italian town and comune in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines.
The Rich's Great Tree, now the Macy's Great Tree, was a large 70–90-foot (21–27 m) tall cut pine Christmas tree that had been an Atlanta tradition since 1948. As of 2013, the tree has been replaced by a much smaller artificial one in the parking lot, which was then moved back to the roof for 2014. Before ending the tradition in December 2023.
An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that switches on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.
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The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is a large Christmas tree placed annually at Rockefeller Center, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The tree is put in place in mid November and lit in a public ceremony on the Wednesday evening following Thanksgiving. Since 1997, the lighting has been broadcast live, to hundreds of millions, on NBC's Christmas in Rockefeller Center telecast. The tree lighting ceremony is aired at the end of every broadcast, following live entertainment and the tree is lit by the current Mayor of New York City, the CEO and president of Tishman Speyer and special guests. An estimated 125 million people visit the attraction each year.
A lighting control system is intelligent network-based lighting control that incorporates communication between various system inputs and outputs related to lighting control with the use of one or more central computing devices. Lighting control systems are widely used on both indoor and outdoor lighting of commercial, industrial, and residential spaces. Lighting control systems are sometimes referred to under the term smart lighting. Lighting control systems serve to provide the right amount of light where and when it is needed.
Saint Ubaldo Day or Festa dei Ceri is an event celebrated on 15 May in the Italian town of Gubbio. It honors the life of Bishop Ubaldo Baldassini who was canonized as protector of Gubbio. It is also celebrated in the American town of Jessup, Pennsylvania
A parol is a Filipino ornamental lantern displayed during the Christmas season. Parols are traditionally constructed using bamboo and Japanese paper, and are illuminated with candles, oil lamps, or carbide lamps. Modern parols can be made using other materials such as plastic, metal, and capiz shells and are usually illuminated with electric lighting. Its most-common form is a five-pointed star, although it can come in various shapes and sizes. Large disc-shaped electronic versions of parols produced in Pampanga are known as "parul sampernandu", the phonetic spelling of parol San Fernando, owing to the city where these lanterns are a major product.
The Cavalcade of Lights Festival is an annual event highlighting the lighting of the City of Toronto government's official Christmas tree at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event has been held annually since 1967.
Vincenzo Paglia is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He is the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life and grand chancellor of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.
The National Christmas Tree is a large evergreen tree located in the northeast quadrant of the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C. Each year since 1923, the tree has been decorated as a Christmas tree. Every year, early in December, the tree is traditionally lit by the President and First Lady of the United States. Every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has also made formal remarks during the tree lighting ceremony.
The Vatican Christmas Tree, also called the Saint Peter's Square Christmas Tree, is the decorated tree that is erected annually in the Saint Peter's Square directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City to celebrate the Christmas holiday season.
Christmas lights in Medellín, known in Spanish simply as the "Lighting" or more officially the EPM Lights, is a traditional seasonal event in Medellín, Colombia, where the city hangs millions of Christmas lights and holds light shows and other cultural events. Since the 1990s, the main locations of the lights have been on and around the Medellín River and La Playa Avenue, although the event has expanded to include over one hundred other locations around the city. The event usually lasts from the beginning of December until the beginning of January, and the lights are designed and sponsored by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), the city's public utilities company.
The Basilica of Sant'Ubaldo is a Roman Catholic church atop Mount Ingino, outside central Gubbio in Umbria, Italy. The church houses the body of the patron saint of Gubbio, Saint Ubaldo, kept atop the main altar on a marble plinth, surmounted by a glass case.
La Festa della Venuta della Santa Casa, colloquially known as La Venuta is a traditional festival in the Marche region of Italy, also widespread in some parts of Umbria, which has been held for more than four hundred years on the night between the ninth and tenth of December, lighting large bonfires in cities, towns and the countryside.
