Tbilisi's New Year Tree to be lit up on Thursday for start of festive season
Lit up in downtown Tbilisi, the tree signifies the start of combined celebrations of New Year's Eve and Christmas in the country. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
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The New Year Tree celebrating the onset of the end-of-year festive season in capital Tbilisi will be lit up on Thursday, mayor Kakha Kaladze said while unveiling the shortened programme for celebrations on Wendesday.
The lighting up of the tree, which customarily signals the official start of weeks of combined New Year's Eve and Christmas celebrations in Georgia, will be broadcast live on television, Kaladze said in his comments about Tbilisi City Hall's plans for the festivities.
With the pandemic situation curtailing plans for the usual scale of celebrations in Tbilisi, the city will host a number of live music shows - also set for live broadcast - without the customary Christmas village, which is usually set up on First Republic Square to host events and socialising opportunities for citizens.
No Christmas village will be set up in the downtown this year, to ensure pandemic safety and redirect funds for relief for socially underprivileged families. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Kaladze said his city office had decided to abandon plans for setting up the village, as the compact arrangement of its stalls and other structures would heighten risks of virus transmission on the square.
Instead, the City Hall will use expenses set aside for the village to provide relief to socially underprivileged families amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The mayor said the move would help the people "in most need" following the nearly year-long struggle with the virus.
Festive season concerts are set to run in Tbilisi on December 31, January 6 and January 14.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia says that the government-imposed coronavirus restrictions until January 31 aim to ensure a normal way of living starting February 1.
Deputy Head of the Task Force under the Interagency Coordination Council Berdia Sichinava announced earlier today that the group is responsible for ensuring the timely import of the vaccines and to supervise infrastructural and logistics processes.
A Christmas village will not be arranged in central Tbilisi for the upcoming holidays this year, with the funds going instead to help poor families for the New Year’s and Christmas holidays, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze stated earlier today.
Georgia’s main New Year three was lit up today on First Republic Square in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze invited everyone to join in the New Year celebrations.
Ambassadors of Israel to Georgia Ran Gidor and EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzel have creatively congratulated Georgia on the New Year.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Year gala concert in Tbilisi was held in a different format without spectators and was broadcasted live on TV. The gala concert was held at the Palace of State Ceremonies, where Georgian musicians performed on a specially arranged stage – a multi-storey house with balconies and terraces.