Dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones you used to know? Stop reading. Now. What’s happening down on the bayou, in the City of New Orleans, is a bit of a departure from the Currier and Ives version of the holiday.
Celebration in the Oaks runs through Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013 – with the exception of the 25th and 31st of December. Located in New Orleans City Park, the place comes alive with lights illuminating the Louisiana night. That’s the visual that connects us with Christmas celebrations the world over. Here’s the departure: the events are heavily influenced by the cadence, the undilute magic, of Cajun culture.
Consider first the Dripping Snow Tree. Organizers say “there is no other exhibit like it in the U.S.” Employing a patented lighting technique from France the tree is arrayed with some 416,000 LED bulbs. It’s visible a half-mile from the park itself.
Lose yourself in the Cajun Night Before Christmas, a multi-media show that offers up the classic tale with a decidedly south Louisiana twist. More than a quarter of a century after the modern classic was published the James Rice illustration of the well-known Clement C. Moore poem comes alive for the whole family. Instead of reindeer, a bayou skiff is hitched to an octet of happy alligators. You get the idea.
Local school children certainly got the Christmas spirit. They, and community groups, have handcrafted Christmas ornaments, seasonal jewels which hang from the trees lining the walkways in the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park.
Celebration in the Oaks is as evocative of a city and a people as any festival could hope to be. Admission is $7, and kids under three get in free. Stop by Sunday through Thursday from 6 p.m. till 10 p.m., or Friday and Saturday nights from 6 to 11 p.m.
(Featured image by prayitno)
