Festival of Lights

The Festival of Lights takes place on December from 7 to 8, to commemorate the Immaculate Conception in Villa de Leyva. It is a unique moment in the year; the streets are full of lights, the sidewalks, the balconies and the terraces too. The traditional night of candles is the most beautiful for beginning December. A wonderful spectacle admired by more than twenty thousand people among the inhabitants and the tourist who come from the whole country and enjoy the color of the fireworks.

The celebration of the Night of Candles is one of the most beautiful ones of Colombia. It takes place in Villa de Leyva that is full of tourists for this date. People arrive in order to enjoy this colorful show and the contest of Fireworks in a magic scenario of colonial streets.
 
It is an excellent opportunity to feel the Colombian Christmas spirit, thanks to the varied programmes. Among the activities are: the contest of lanterns exhibited during the procession of Virgin of Conception, Christmas chorus and fireworks shows.

The best gunpowder’s experts light the different fireworks forming figures. The participants are evaluated according aspects like: luminosity, weight, special effects and duration of the fireworks.

History of the Festival of Lights

It was created in 1986 in order to promote the region tourism and to recover the Immaculate of Conception’s Day, celebrated on December 8 with candles, lanterns and lights by the Catholic Church.

The Night of Candles

In the Catholic Church, the candles spread during XV and XVI centuries, when America was settled by the Spaniards that started to celebrate the religious festivity of Conception Virgin in the New World. The fire during the festivities had more folk, recreational and festive meaning than religious and symbolic.

The night of candles joined the traditional religious festivity -brought to the mainland of South America to European celebration on December 8- , with the Colombian light celebration.