It being Christmas and all, we thought of putting up a little special feature and show how Christmas is spent in Colombia through the lens of a Singaporean. Enjoy!
A field of lights
Throughout the 1980’s, Medellin was known as the drug capital of the world. Fast forward twenty years later and the city was recently awarded the World’s Most Innovative City. This does not come as a surprise due to the annual Christmas Lights show in this beautiful city nestled between the highlands.
Christmas Lights along the city river
One of the many lighting displays located along the stretch of the Medellin river
Kids and families getting ‘soaked’ in the festive atmosphere
Yup, and there are food stalls lining along the river where the Christmas Light displays are set
Not to be surpassed, the capital city of Bogota houses the World’s Biggest Navity Scene (El Pesebre mas grande del mundo) complete with costumed actors and actresses acting out biblical scenes.
Nativity Scene with ‘real life’ biblical settings
The Wailing Wall and the people you see touching the wall are actually praying
Actor playing out the Nativity scene with plastic meat (They speak to you in Hebrew as well and wouldn’t respond in English nor Spanish. An actor even asked ‘what is that (in hebrew)’ while pointing at my camera.
Jamming in biblical costumes
In homes however, Colombians utilise figurines instead (like a little lego land) for their nativity scene
Nativity scene at the comforts of my friend home
Amazing right? and the best thing is, it was all made from scratch. Materials are bought a month before Christmas. The base is made of paper mache and painted over in natural colour hues. Individual items such as houses, figurines and cookery pots are bought from craft shops which are delicately placed. Lights are placed in certain locations to illuminate the entire structure. More importantly, it takes a lot of planning and manoeuvring to finish the nativity scene by Christmas eve.
Close up look
So the next time you are in Colombia, don’t miss out on the Christmas scene here! Merry Christmas all!
