Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Official Christmas tree 2012

During the winter holiday season, many Finnish cities have Christmas trees set up in the public places, where as many people as possible can enjoy the view and atmosphere.

The one of the oldest cities in Finland, Turku, has a long tradition for tall and large Christmas trees. The Christmas tree is set up in the front of the church, Turun tuomiokirkko, which requires larger spruce than usual. The church tower is over 85 meters high, so the Christmas tree must be somehow proportional to that height. 

Usually the spruce used as "the Official Christmas tree" is given to the city, honorably without a charge, by some of the local land owners. It is also usual to have the tree owners interviewed to the local news paper with the images about the preparation, cutting down the tree and process of moving the tree to its new place.

In the year 2012 the Christmas tree is donated by a family from Masku, a place near the city of Turku. The spruce is over 24 meters high and 9 meters wide, so the transportation required some special traffic control and logistics. The owners have calculated the annual rings, and estimated the tree to be at least 75 years old.


When the Christmas time ends, the tree is returned to the owners, as chopped to smaller pieces.



Another video from the local news paper:
http://www.ts.fi/tstv/?id=15891078&type=recordvideo

The related article:
http://www.ts.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/420240/Turun+joulukuusi+saapui+Tuomiokirkkotorille


The YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK2OsxaLO48