The Colors of Christmas Lights in the City

It is Christmas season and homes as well as public buildings, parks and malls are adorned with Christmas trees and lights, and Christmas carols are played in some of those places. The front of the city hall of Cagayan de Oro is bedecked with myriads of small lights and the main entrance is adorned with three “angels” that are fashioned from Christmas lights. The colors of lights range from yellow, red, light green, among others.

Just across the city hall is the Gaston Park which is one the city’s landmarks. The park is situated by the St. Augustine Cathedral, the oldest Catholic Church of the City. The fountain in the middle of the park is temporarily shut down and its basin emptied of water to make way for the installation of a 40-foot tall Christmas tree. The “tree” is fashioned from steel bars and bands with Christmas lights wrapped around it. At day time the “tree” is not a beauty to behold. But at night the lights of the Christmas tree make the people feel the spirit of Christmas.

The people from the provincial government have also put up a conspicuous display of lights at the Vicente de Lara Park that fronts the provincial capitol building. That park has for its feature old hard wood Philippine trees that give shelter to visitors and passersby from the heat of sunlight. The trees have already lamps at them to illuminate the park at night. But to give variety this Christmas season, personnel from the provincial government treat people with a display of violet lights that shine at the park’s vicinity. It is a lighting display that people from the city or the province have never seen before. To work with the innovative idea, the capitol personnel collected empty plastics gallons, cut off their bottoms and painted the remaining bodies violet. It then cased the lamps at the trees with those gallons. When the lamps are on, violet colored lights are shone through the plastic gallon-made lanterns.