Christmas in the park

While all of the Netherlands is still busy preparing for the Dutch national celebration of Sinterklaas at December 5 (did you know that Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch early migrants in New York who were celebrating Sinte Klaas amongst each other?), in New Zealand everybody is preparing themselves for Christmas. A good way to get in the mood is to visit the free annual event called Christmas In The Park. This year it was held pretty early, already at November 25.

CITP is held in Hagley Park, the central park of Christchurch. On a large field a stage is built up where between 7:45 and 10:15 PM the cream of the NZ crop of singers and comedians is performing live, only to be topped off by a visit of Santa Claus himself and a finale with fantastic fireworks.

Already from 3 PM many people are enjoying themselves picnicking together on the field. When the clock approaches 6 PM the field really starts to fill up. The event is popular with people from all ages, whole families including fathers, mothers, grannies and grandsons are having a great time together. 120,000 People were expected to show up this year. Emma and I went to see the last half hour of the event. I couldn’t see if the number of visitors was indeed that large, it was pretty crowded though. There was a great atmosphere and the fireworks were nothing short of breathtaking (quite literally, even). We had so much fun that we are planning to see the event in its entirety next year. If we still live near Christchurch by then, that is :-)