Oslo's annual Christmas gift to London
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| 1. The 2014 Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree, London [View from the National Gallery towards Whitehall] |
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| 2. The Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree, London [View looking towards the National Gallery] |
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| 3. An annual gift from the city of Oslo since 1947 [Sign at the base of the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree] |
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| 4. St Martin's in the Fields 'Christmas Crib' [Trafalgar Square, London (December 2014)] |
Season's Greetings for 2014
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posted by ritsonvaljos at 11:30 pm
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Additional information
Oslo's annual gift of a Christmas Tree
In December 1947 the Norwegian city of Oslo sent a gift of a Christmas tree to the city of London, capital city of the United Kingdom. Each December since that time a Christmas tree, actually a Norway spruce, has been sent from Oslo to London as a token of gratitude for British support during the Second World War.
The tree is erected on the first Thursday of December each year at one of London's principal focal points - Trafalgar Square, in front of the National Gallery and facing down Whitehall towards the Palace of Westminster [Photographs 1 and 2]. It is decorated in the Norwegian style with 500 white lights. At the base of the tree, facing the National Gallery, is a sign proudly proclaiming that a tree has been given to London each year since 1947 [Photograph No. 3].
The 2014 tree was lit on Thursday, 4 December 2014 by the with the Norwegian Ambassador to Britain and the Mayor of Oslo. More than 50 groups of carol singers took part in the ceremony, including schoolchildren's choirs, the Salvation Army and the choir of St Martin's-in-the-Fields, which is situated on one side of Traflagar Square.
On the following Sunday, 7 December, St Martin's-in-the-Fields held another ceremony with carol singng around the Christmas tree, at the same time as the official dedication of the Christmas Crib for 2014 [seen in photograph No. 4]. The Crib was designed by Tomoaki Suzuki and first displayed next to the tree in 2006. The multi-ethnic figures seen in the crib were inspired by London’s diverse population.
London's Trafalgar Square Christmas tree has become an annual tradition of gratitude, friendship and peace that has its origins in the aftermath of the Second World War.
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