Lyon Living: Fete des lumieres

Last weekend marked the annual "Fete des lumieres" (festival of lights) in Lyon. This world-class event draws some three million visitors to Lyon, making an already compact city even more crowded than usual. But the energy and excitement of the celebration creates an atmosphere of camaraderie; "yes, it's hectic and uncomfortable, but we're all in this together!"

The history of the Fete goes way back to the 17th century. Southern France was hit hard by the plague in the 1640s, and the people of Lyon prayed to Mary for deliverance. When the plague ended, the city's leaders vowed to pay tribute to Mary each year. Fast forward two centuries to 1852. On December 8 (the date observed by Catholics as the feast of the Immaculate Conception), a golden statue of the Virgin Mary was placed atop the Basilica Fouviere. Candles lighted the way for a solemn procession from St. John's Cathedral up the steep hill to the Basilica. Every year on December 8, Lyonnaise Catholics light candles and place them in their windows to remember these significant events.

In recent years, the festival has lost most of its Catholic tradition, and has become a very popular -- and very commercial -- spectacle for tourists from all across France, Europe, and beyond. Renowned lighting design companies produce amazing special effects, using buildings as canvases. Lasers, projections, films, fireworks, luminaries, neon lights...every kind of illumination you can imagine is on display, all throughout the city. This year the event lasted for four evenings, and I believe it would take all four to see everything.

We went out three of the four nights and were rewarded with some amazing, jaw-dropping spectacles. Pictures don't do it justice, but these will have to suffice. If you want to get an idea of how these lighting artists "paint" on buildings, check out this YouTube video from last year's Fete which shows St. John's Cathedral.