Reused materials and a common effort for a unique Christmas
Faced with the waste typical of these parties, measure; against mass production, craftsmanship and imagination. “ We believe that a more sustainable Christmas is possible. The elements we use are always reused, and we try do not use plastic . The lights are much less than in other towns, but people come to visit us to see what surprises we have every year and enjoy the new decorations.”
María López, from the Ministry of Economic Promotion, Commerce and Tourism of Allariz, a town in the province of Ourense with 6,100 inhabitants, tells us about it. “One of the few that increase their registration and face the reality of the Spain emptied ”, she adds. Probably, it is because of initiatives like this one, which give an imaginative and participatory return to the exorbitant “war of lights” which has been established in many cities in Spain.
“We have been doing this kind of ‘different’ Christmas for five years; we believe in what we do and we are proud of the result and the allaricans and alacarinas let us know so”, explains Ella López. “ This is a different battle from that of Vigo: it is to have a Christmas with few resources and with great enthusiasm, it is for people to realize that not everything is done with the help of a checkbook ”.
They get it with elements designed with natural material left over from plant pruning or reusing structures from other events, especially the International Garden Festival, which changes its theme every year. They also don't use too many lights to decorate, just a few white ones, which are placed on the cobbled streets of the historic center.
“We do not run away from the lights, but we put the right ones so that Allariz looks pretty on these dates. Every year we buy a few , so that we do not subcontract them and as they are ours, we can expand areas every year”.
A LAY CHRISTMAS WITH A MESSAGE
With this, and above all, with the work of the Council's own staff, "who work tirelessly so that everything looks beautiful during the Christmas season", they have managed to turn the town into a circuit of ten locations which this year features a landscape set in the North Pole. "It is a joy for children with which we want to draw attention to climate change and about how lucky we are to have green areas and a great biodiversity around us", they point out from the City Council. "This year it has been more evident than ever how important it is to enjoy nature".
A polar world to denounce climate change
"Sustainability is very present in our Christmas, which, moreover, is secular, without nativity scenes or Santa Claus . Likewise, we try to ensure that the decoration is integrated with Allariz and its old town, which has been a Historic-Artistic Site since 1971, a European Urbanism Award in 1994 for the rehabilitation of its town center and the recovery of the banks of its river and a Biosphere Reserve since 2005", they continue from the City Council.
The goal is to create a tribute to our land and our resources , to the importance that it has for us to fight with what we have and to value the primary sector that has shown itself to be so important in the terrible circumstances of this year. In a tremendously globalized world, we must know that what we have is worth, and a lot .Consuming the local product, buying from our neighbors or taking advantage of what we have around us is, and will be, vital."
To emphasize this message, not only materials generated by the town itself are reused; also all the work is carried out from the City Council itself . "We do it, from the City Council electrician, through the Environment Brigade or the municipal surveyor and the mayor herself. Everything, absolutely everything is done by municipal workers, from devising the locations to executing them. Then, in a week and a half of work, we all take to the streets morning and afternoon, until everything is finished . We are already experts in creating the magic of making it snow in Allariz every Christmas," says López proudly.
Allariz's Christmas 'mini-market'
"Seeing the faces of the children and the gratitude of the neighbors makes this work worthwhile with profit; If, in addition, it encourages people to visit us and the local economy moves, the objective has been achieved".
NEWS IN THE LOCATIONS
To continue surprising the regulars of its streets on these dates, among those ten locations, this year it has been added as a novelty Allariz Postcard , the recreation of a post office in which the little ones can send the letters with their wishes, and it has been installed a small market with a four meter Ferris wheel in the Plaza Mayor, "a recreation of a full-fledged Christmas market".
In addition, and in view of its success last year, the "miniworld" has also been expanded, a miniature fairy and elf garden made with logs of wood and plant elements. Due to the pandemic situation, the exterior location of all the decorations is more convenient than ever, with a single restriction: it will not be possible to access the Christmas village, provided with a great castle that you could enter before, “an enjoyment for children and adults”.
A world of fairies to measure
“Allariz had strength, and today we have no remnants: it's like return to the people of Alarica the dream they always had of seeing their castle standing ”, argues López, highlighting that it has been built with structures taken advantage of from the Garden Festival.
There are also other areas, such as the animal house, full of beings made from logs of wood in an artisanal way or the recreation of a typical farm in the area with the house of the Apalpador, “The traditional Christmas character from Galicia, an old man who comes down from the mountains to touch the bellies of the children to see if they are full, leaves them chestnuts and a little gift”, explains the person in charge.
With all that, The final budget for the Christmas decorations in the town this year was around 7,000 euros, 3,000 more than last year, but far from the more than half a million spent by Vigo and Malaga , two of the cities that are most committed to attracting tourism on these dates -Palma de Mallorca, for its part, is close to two million euros, while Seville is around 800,000-. However, Allariz is also visited by many tourists who, for five years, have been visiting the place to be surprised by its particular vision of Christmas.
In addition, travelers take the opportunity to stroll through its aforementioned historic quarter, a historic-artistic complex with six Romanesque churches and a large number of stately and emblazoned houses, as well as remains of the wall, old tanning factories and mills.
Allariz also has several museums, including the Fashion and Toy museums, as well as being a perfect destination to buy quality local products such as milk, sheep's cheese, honey, soaps, donkey milk, beer artisan, chestnuts, beef... They can all be found every Saturday at the Biosphere Reserve Product Market, one more of the attractions of this surprising Galician town.
This article was published on December 31, 2019 and updated on December 8, 2020