Who will present Lviv with the main Christmas tree this year and when it will be lit
Christmas events in Lviv begin with the installation of a Christmas tree on the city’s central square. Traditionally, the city will not buy the tree this year, it will be donated by people who care. Thus, the Christmas tree will be lit on the eve of St Nicholas Day on 5 December, accompanied by carols.
This was reported by the Lviv City Council.
This year, the family of Yaroslav and Hanna Pidvirnykh from the village of Birky, Yavoriv district, Lviv region, is donating their Christmas tree to the city. The tree is about 16 metres high. The tree is about 20 years old.
The couple shared the story of how they managed to grow such a tall tree in their yard. Mrs Hanna accidentally found a broken sapling on the road, it was small but with roots. Her husband and grandson decided to plant the tree in their yard. According to their daughter Natalia, in the early years the tree was very small and grew poorly, but her father took good care of it, so the tree grew tall and began to cause inconvenience in the household. For four years, the family thought about cutting down the tree and decided to donate it to Lviv for the Christmas holidays.
On Monday, employees of Zelenyi Lviv will cut the tree and transport it to Lviv. Then the specialists of Lvovsvitlo will decorate the tree with illumination and light it up on the eve of St Nicholas Day.
“Traditionally, we plan to light the central city Christmas tree on 5 December at 18:00. The Gomin municipal choir will be with us, and we will sing carols together. The opening itself will be intimate.
The Christmas tree will be decorated only with illumination, which was purchased in 2018, and an anti-tank “hedgehog” will be put on top, which was made by Lvivelectrotrans employees two years ago. We agreed on this concept at the beginning of the war, so we are keeping it this year,” comments Oleksiy Taraban, Head of the Lviv City Department of Culture.
It is important to add that no funds are allocated from the budget for the city Christmas tree. The tree’s lighting during the holidays is quite economical.