NOVA SCOTIA TREE HEADS FOR BOSTON

Nova Scotia’s annual ritual of making a celebrity out of a tree began Thursday in Oxford, Cumberland County.

The “Tree for Boston’’ was carefully cut down under blue skies as about 200 people watched, including carol-singing schoolchildren.

The 14-metre white spruce then began a four-day tour in which it will be feted and paraded and eventually make the 1,100-kilometre journey to Massachusetts.

The huge Christmas tree is a gift meant to show Haligonians’ gratitude for the help Bostonians provided after the devastating Halifax Explosion 101 years ago.

The province’s Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin was in Oxford for the tree-cutting, as was a Mi’kmaq elder, the local mayor and carollers from Oxford Regional Elementary.

“There was a lot of cheering, and a lot of flag-waving ... A large portion of the town of Oxford was there,’’ said government spokesman Bruce Nunn.

The tree — which has its own Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts — was then put on display at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro, where an author was teaching local children about the Halifax Explosion.

“The children are making decorations to donate to homeless shelters in Boston,’’ said Nunn. “They’re made from little pieces of tree and they decorate them to go down with the Boston tree as our contribution to the Boston community.’’

It had been scheduled for a public sendoff at Halifax’s Grand Parade this morning with the mayor, U.S. consul, and others, but the province said Thursday the event had been cancelled “due to a forecast of inclement weather.’’

The tree is still scheduled to stick around Halifax for another day, and appear in Saturday night’s Chronicle Herald Holiday Parade of Lights in Halifax.

On Sunday morning, it will be displayed once again, at the Amherst, Atlantic Superstore.

Nunn said Teresa Simpson — who donated the tree with her partner Ross McKellar — along with members of her family and even some Oxford residents would be travelling to Boston for a tree lightening ceremony on Nov. 29.

Last year, the tree was given a Halifax police escort to the U.S. border, and also stopped in Augusta, Maine, en route to Boston

CP PHOTO School children sing seasonal songs at the cutting of a Christmas tree in Oxford, Cumberland County on Thursday. Area residents Ross McKellar and Teresa Simpson donated the 14-metre white spruce. Each year, Nova Scotia sends a tree to Boston to thank the city for sending medical personnel and supplies when nearly 2,000 people were killed in the Halifax Explosion. Hundreds more were left injured or homeless by the 1917 disaster.