Lyon’s annual Fête des Lumières has been cancelled as a result of the attacks in Paris last Friday, it has been announced. The festival, which celebrates the Virgin Mary, Lyon’s patron saint, usually sees up to 4 million visitors line the city’s streets to see the spectacular illuminations and elaborate light shows. However, it has been stymied by France’s ongoing state of emergency, which prohibits large gatherings.
Instead of the full festival, which was to run from 5-8 December, there will be a smaller-scale event on 8 December, in homage to the victims of the attacks – whose names will be projected onto the quaysides of the Saône river. Organisers hope to have distributed 200,000 tea lights by the time of the event, and are encouraging residents to put lights on their windowsills in memory of those who died on 13 November and to represent the unity of the city’s people. Two landmark buildings, Tour du Crèdit Lyonnais and the Tour Incity, as well as the Fourvière hill, will be illuminated.
