Holiday traditions to celebrate the winter solstice are common
to every culture around the world. The transition from the shortest,
darkest day in mid-winter to the longest day of light at the beginning
of summer are a common theme to our whole world.
Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids
celebrates the light by showing the traditions of many countries
and cultures around the world. Besides the forty one gorgeous
Christmas Trees that are decorated as they would be in their native
regions, they also display Kwanza, Jewish, Buddhist traditional
decorations. New this year is Tet Nguyen Dan, the Vietnamese
celebration of the lunar New Year. Pronounced day wen don,
it literally means, "the first morning of the first day."
Meijer Gardens is celebrating the completion of a $7.6 million
renovation and expansion that was awarded a silver level LEED
certificate in energy and environmental design. The renovation
and expansion was centered around the cafe, visitor areas, office
and storage spaces. The new cafe has a stunning Dale Chihuly
blown glass sculpture of colored glass flowers hanging from
the ceiling.
We have put together a few photos we took at the gardens
recently, so you can see some of the holiday decorations from
near and far. The gorgeous Christmas trees are all 12-15 feet tall
and loaded with beautiful ornaments. This is just a sampling of the
Christmas Traditions displayed here:
Our Holiday Wishes for Peace & Goodwill to all of you!
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The authors of the this blog write about Grand Rapids Real Estate,
the Greater Grand Rapids MI area, and what it is like to live in
West Michigan. We believe: Grand Rapids is a Great Place to Live!
Westbrook Realty Grand Rapids MI Real Estate
Contact Terry 616-292-7263
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Burrrr! Looks cold! Here is the Christmas tree in La Jolla, CA.
it is beautiful here! Merry Christmas and thank you for sharing!
Tiffany, It's all in what your used to the spring through fall weather is why I live here. The winters can be a bit chilly but the fireplace keeps me warm.
Loved your slide show. Even though it did make me shiver a bit!
Hello Terry and Bonnie,
That was a great slide show and thank you for sharing this wonderful story of the renovation and expansion of Meijer Gardens and Sculpture park in Grand Rapids.
Come Spring and Summer, I hope you will show us again how different it looks without the snow, :-) Wonderful!!
Ruth, Thanks for the comment time to put another log on the fire.
William. It is quite a local treasure. We stop by several time during the year. I'm sure you will see it mentioned again.
It was coorect to use saturnalia to get a common line to pick a date for Christ to have been born on. This coincides with the winter soltice. The 25is just a figure pulled at random because it is just too cole in oalistine to have him born. So December 25 ius an artifical date picked to make everyone happy. The real date would be closer to April.
Tom, I never knew that. Interesting info thanks for the comment.
I guess I'm sort of partial to the California tradition of decorating for Christmas. You know, little Santas and snowman tied to palm trees!
I do get jealous of your weather during the winter months but still love the seasonal change and sense of renewal when the spring comes. Enjoy the Holidays .