A Christmas atmosphere reigned over the Poznań Old Town on 6th December that coincides with Nicholas’s name day. A Bethlehem star glimmered at the top of a huge Christmas tree, which was located just next to the Town Hall. Christmas illuminations also appeared on the lamp posts around the market square and in the nearby streets. Poznań Bethlehem will last in the Poznań Old Town for the week directly preceding Christmas. A lot of attractions will be prepared for those who visit this place at that time. First of all, the Fair of Poznań Craft will be organised there. Every day from 11.00 a.m. till 8.00 p.m. one will have an opportunity to buy there Christmas decorations, gifts and presents, as well as Christmas delicacies from different European countries. Similarly to the previous years, it is not only the youngest that will eagerly visit the Bethlehem Crib. At the weekend of 16-17 December apart from the Holy Family with the baby Jesus there will also be live animals from the Poznań zoo: a donkey, pony, goats, and sheep.
Just next to this attraction there will be the Ring of Greetings beneath which everyone will have an opportunity to exchange Christmas greetings.
During Poznań Bethlehem the scene in front of the Town Hall will host the participants of the Carollers Groups Review – the children and youth from the Poznań kindergartens and schools. The Review will begin with the Parade of Carollers that will go along Półwiejska Street on 13th and 16th December. Among its participants there will also be a famous St Lucia’s retinue from Scandinavia with their original wreath with candles.
On Saturday, on 16th December, the 2nd Festival of Ice Sculpture in Poznań will take place. For the whole day sculptors will create a few metre high sculptures. Their main subject will focus on winter. Four teams from Poznań and Warsaw will participate in this event. They will work on specially prepared platforms from 10.00 a.m. till 4.00 p.m. Then their sculptures will be illuminated and the Poznań inhabitants will choose the most beautiful one. If the weather is good, the sculptures will be exhibited until Friday, 22nd December. Patrick Roger de Campagnolle, world champion in ice sculpture will be a special guest of the festival. On Sunday, 17th December, after a ceremonial mass at 4.00 p.m. in the Poznań parish church, Mayor of Poznań and Poznań Archbishop will share the Bethlehem Peace Light with the Poznań inhabitants. It will be brought here by the scouts from the Wielkopolska Regiment of the Polish Association of Scouts (ZHP). Also, Christmas greetings will be exchanged with the guests from Jyvaskyla, a Finnish partner city, the representatives of the Poznań consular corps, and the sailors from ORP "POZNAŃ". The evening will be crowned with a concert given by Eleni, a Poznań singer born in Greece.
At the weekend preceding Christmas a show of special photographs will be organised from 5.00 p.m. till 8.00 p.m. on the screens located on one of the tenement houses of the Old Market Square. The photographs will show the Poznań inhabitants in angel make-up who accepted an invitation of Ewa Łowżył, an artist, for participation in this project entitled “The Angel Poznań”. The photo session involved ordinary inhabitants, the disabled, and also the charges from the Poznań social welfare centres.



Photographs: City Hall