Celebratory lighting (also termed festive lighting) is the use of lighting for decorative, celebratory or recreational purposes in connection with a specific festival, observance or event in a given culture.
Whilst one of the most commonly known form of Celebratory lighting is the European (and later North American) tradition of Christmas lights, many cultures have used Celebratory lighting in specific cultural circumstances.
Closely related to celebratory lighting, are:
- the use of organised illuminations as semi-public entertainment, a concept which in some forms can be traced to the Ancient Chinese, although the modern form largely developed during the nineteenth century
- Ritual lighting, in connection with specific religious practices.
Famous quotes containing the word lighting:
“What I like, or one of the things I like, about motoring is the sense it gives one of lighting accidentally, like a voyager who touches another planet with the tip of his toe, upon scenes which would have gone on, have always gone on, will go on, unrecorded, save for this chance glimpse. Then it seems to me I am allowed to see the heart of the world uncovered for a moment.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)