O’ Little town of Victoria dressed in Xmas glitter |07 December 2020
By Laura Pillay
Despite the somewhat dull atmosphere this year, on account of the pandemic and economic situation, many flocked to the centre of town on Saturday evening for what has now become a customary tradition, the lighting up of Christmas decorations in Victoria.
Organised annually by the Office of the Mayor, the ceremony celebrates the immense work that goes into decorating the town and marks the beginning of the countdown to Christmas for many.
This year, decorations are to a minimum, mainly focused at the Post Office and National History Museum and Peace Park.
“For this year, there’s not much, as we are all aware of the situation. But with the little that we have, we want to bring some joy to the town. We have lights, of course, the quantity of lights we had planned to have this year, and the new stuff, we could not do, but we concentrated all the activities, the ones we can do, to the Museum and around the Post Office, to create an ambience, a joyful atmosphere,” explained Mayor David Andre.
“We are asking people to come and launch the Christmas and New Year season, where we will light up Victoria, and of course we will have carols by different groups and choirs. We also have Metis Band and certain members of the National Brass Band,”said Mr Andre.
The majority of lights in storage no longer work, explained Mayor Andre, except for the ones that are already on display. While some sponsors came forward to offer contributions to liven up town, it is not sensible to invest in such during these difficult economic periods, and the timeframe by which to have decorations shipped to Seychelles was too short anyway, he said.
Mayor Andre is appealing to businesses around Victoria to decorate and spread the Christmas cheer, also calling for such activities at district level.
“What is interesting as well, the museum has been really creative. They have used local materials, like they made a Christmas tree of coconut leaves and pirog decorated with a creole touch, of course to show that creative flair while also showing that we can do something different. Even if not on as grand a scale, we will have a programme every weekend either here at the Museum or at the Waterfront, at Passerelle, as there is also a stage there. So there will be live musical animation up until Christmas day,” Mayor Andre added.
Regardless of the limited number of lights, most people were still as delighted to have their pictures taken with the decorations and to sing along to carols sung by the Choral and Music Society, the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) choir, the Central Bank choir, MCB choir, La Misère school choir and the Mont Fleuri and English River youth choirs.
“I would wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I hope 2021 is better and we can surmount these difficulties we are facing with God’s grace. Remain united and share peace and joy,” Mayor Andre concluded, wishing every citizen a happy festive season.
The accompanying photographs show some highlights of the ceremony.
Photos by: Thomas Meriton
