Christmas tree

Authorities in Istanbul have taken measures to prevent the illegal cutting down of pine trees ahead of New Year's Eve, with officials carrying out extensive controls in forested areas to protect the trees.

Back at the beginning of March, few would have thought that terms like "restrictions," "without friends," "only at home" and "no hugs or kisses" would be a part of any discussion about the Christmas and New Year's holidays this year.

A worker places an ornament on a Christmas tree on the illuminated Syntagma square, during the coronavirus disease pandemic, in Athens, Saturday. [Stelios Misinas/Reuters]

At the time of year when most families usually start decorating their homes for the holiday season, Christmas trees are lined up at the Pedion tou Areos park in central Athens by growers hoping citizens will rise to the occasion.

Locked down by coronavirus at their busiest time of year, fir tree farmers in Greece are hoping for a Christmas miracle to salvage a season all but lost.

A nationwide lockdown has meant thousands of Christmas trees may not get to market in time in a blow to farmers in an area of northern Greece where fir tree sales are their only livelihood.

Decorating the Christmas tree is perhaps the most popular custom associated with the Nativity of Christ. Tradition dictates that before Christmas every Christian family should get the tree in question (which is most often a fir tree or other coniferous tree), which should be decorated with colourful lights, treats and ornaments.

A new Christmas tree that was set up in Exarchia Square in downtown Athens on Friday morning after the previous one was torched was destroyed in the same manner just a few hours later.

The City of Athens has replaced a Christmas tree on the main square in the downtown neighborhood of Exarchia after its predecessor was torched by anarchists objecting to a police crackdown in the area.

Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis announced the placement of the new tree on Facebook on Friday morning.

More than 18,000 LED lights have been lit, used as a Christmas tree decoration in California, believed to be the highest in the world, world agencies reported.

The thirty-five-foot white fir in front of Citadel Outlets in Commerce, California is also decorated with 10,000 ornaments.
With the LED lights on, the celebration of the Christmas holidays began.

Christmas trees will be recycled after the holiday season as part of a pilot program that will begin in Thessaloniki in northern Greece.

The aim of the initiative by the Environment Ministry and the Solid Waste Management Agency (FODSA) is for other regions across the country to implement the program, whose main slogan is "no Christmas trees at the landfill."