Festival of Lights redux

The annual Festival of Lights at VanDusen Gardens ended just after Hogmanay.The yearly assault on our senses is finally over. It`s now safe to enter VanDusen once again as a normal citizen and not some selfie-indulgent gaggle.









This year, for reasons supposedly due to popular demand, the Festival of Lights continues for several weekends (ending this weekend) but with a positive difference: it`s a kinder, gentler version, and it works splendidly.

The cacophony of noise, the orgy of flashing light, and all the vendors are gone. It`s a more relaxed and peaceful event, one that hearkens back to the origins of the Festival of Lights in the first place.

There is still a crowd, a good thing for the money changers I suppose, but these groups are more manageable. The frenzy has disappeared and that`s a good thing.

G. G. Blynn asked why this version of the Festival of Lights couldn't become the official version. But no, that`s asking too much.

However. It was a delight to walk through the garden and enjoy the lights without the added hoopla. This was nice. We should do it again next year. That would be a start to reclaiming the Festival of Lights, one step at a time.

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2016 by Jim Murray.