The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invites everyone to enjoy the spirit of Christmas in all of its many celebrations.

Temple Square starts the season with the annual lighting of more than 300,000 lights throughout the holidays. This year the light attraction will continue through January of 2003.

Every 15 minutes visitors can listen to the story of the Savior's birth and a nativity scene sits at the center of the Temple Square.

Throughout the rest of the square, decorations tell the story of Christ's birth to people from many nations; some even in their own languages.

Luminaries and nativities display the traditions of people from places like Ecuador, Nigeria, Sweden, Italy, Mexico, Japan and New Zealand. Many of displays are sculpted, finely painted, detailed and hand carved, according to the Ensign.

The Salt Lake Temple is one of many temples nation-wide adorning their grounds with lights to inspire the holiday spirit.

Among those are the Washington D.C. Temple and the Mesa Arizona Temple.

This year the Washington D.C. temple celebrates its 25th season of its Festival of Lights.

Nativity scenes from international handcrafted artisans, live family oriented performances of holiday music and more than 20 Christmas trees will invite visitors' to enjoy the season in Washington.

The local community including a variety of churches, schools and community groups are heavily involved throughout this lighted celebration.

The Mesa Arizona Temple also offers visitors an opportunity to experience the lights surrounding an LDS temple, according to www.christmasfestival.org. The lights at the Mesa Temple have been around since 1980.

With more than 600,000 lights, the Mesa display offers a nativity scene and Christmas music to its visitors.

In addition to the annual lighting of Temple Square, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra perform a holiday concert at the Conference Center.

Former CBS Evening News anchorman Walter Cronkite hosts this year's celebration Dec. 13 and 14. A dress rehearsal is also available to the public Dec. 12.

The concert program "Silent Night, Holy Night" features Christmas songs and sacred anthems.

The church's weekly television and radio program Music and the Spoken Word will feature Cronkite as a guest narrator Dec. 15.

Free tickets are available to the public at www.lds.org/events or the Conference Center Ticket Office.

To start the new year, the LDS church will host its New Year's Eve Gala, Jan. 31 at Temple Square.

Throughout the evening, a variety of performances from artists like LDS singer Peter Breinholt will celebrate the new year.



Copyright Brigham Young University 13 Dec 2002