In the darkest days of the year, in a very dark time, there is a longing for illumination. And so, all around the world, the holiday lights go on — some of them humble, some of them spectacular, all of them a welcome respite from the dark.
They make the streets an interactive experience. There are tunnels of light — to walk through, as pedestrians do in Tokyo, at the zoo in Johannesburg, and at the Holiday Road light show in Calabasas, Calif.; to drive through, at a mall in Panay, the Philippines, where visitors remained in their cars to curb the spread of covid-19.
There are real trees and man-made trees and ginormous trees, like the light sculpture in Vigo, Spain, said to be the biggest tree in the world, so big that adults and children stroll inside. Vigo goes all out for Christmas, stringing 11 million LED lights on more than 350 streets.
Some displays are municipal, like the silvery strings of light that adorn the lampposts of Moscow. Some are commercial, like the lights that wrap an electronics store in Syntagma Square in Athens, turning it into a massive gift box. And some are private, like the over-the-top trimmings of homes in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Dyker Heights.
All are wonderful, in the most literal meaning of the word.
Is it possible that as the world struggles through its second Christmas season beset by disease, we need the lights to be brighter than ever? And so we spread them above like a celestial canopy in places from Barcelona, Spain, to the Old City of Damascus, Syria?
Is this how we rage against the dying of the light?
(AP/Lalo Villar)
A woman holds a child Dec. 12 as they stand inside a Christmas tree made of lights in Vigo, Spain.
(AP/Wong Maye-E)
People crowd around holiday lights and decorations which adorn a house in Brooklyn’s Dyker Heights neighborhood on Dec. 11 in New York.
(AP/Kiichiro Sato)
People walk through a tunnel of holiday light displays Dec. 9 in Tokyo.
(AP/Juan Karita)
An Aymara woman talks on her cellphone Dec. 13 at the Tejada Sorzano square adorned with holiday lights in La Paz, Bolivia.
(AP/Oded Balilty)
A nun cleans the floor Dec. 12 after decorating the entrance to a church with Christmas lights in Jerusalem’s Old City.
(AP/Thanassis Stavrakis)
People walk Dec. 15 in front of a Christmas-decorated electronics store at Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece.
(AP/Gregorio Borgia)
Rain drops on a car window are backdropped by city lights and a giant lighted figure of Santa Claus on Dec. 9 in Naples, Italy.
(AP/Julio Cortez)
Row homes are seen covered in holiday decorations Dec. 9 along the Miracle on 34th Street Hampden Christmas Street Holiday Show in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore.
(AP/Charlie Riedel)
A boy is silhouetted against Christmas lights reflected on a pond Dec. 9 as he walks through a park in Lenexa, Kan.
(AP/Jerome Delay)
Children walk Dec. 12 through a light tunnel at the Johannesburg, South Africa, city zoo.
(AP/Omar Sanadiki)
People walk Dec. 14 in the Old City of Damascus, Syria, which is decorated for the upcoming Christmas holidays.
(AP/Francisco Seco)
Pedestrians walk Dec. 10 past a Christmas tree next to Taksim mosque at Taksim square in Istanbul, Turkey.
(AP/Marco Ugarte)
A person dressed as La Santa Muerte poses for a photo Dec. 9 in Mexico City’s main square as Christmas lights shine.
(AP/Emilio Morenatti)
Christmas decorations illuminate one of the main avenues Dec. 14 in Barcelona, Spain.
(AP/Aaron Favila)
A car passes by Christmas displays Dec. 13 at a drive-through Christmas installation outside a mall in Pasay, Philippines.
(AP/Matt Dunham)
Visitors interact with clock lighting Dec. 7 on the “Palace of Stardust” light trail held for the Christmas season at Hampton Court Palace in southwest London.
(AP/Oded Balilty)
A man walks by a Christmas tree Dec. 12 during the lighting ceremony outside the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel.
(AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The Kremlin Wall, the Spasskaya Tower, Red Square, the GUM department store, the St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge are decorated for Christmas and the New Year festivities Dec. 12 in Moscow.