Christmas of Light, or Natal Luz, turns Gramado, in Rio Grande do Sul, into a Christmas Wonderland starting in November every year.
Christmas of Light top attractions include the Nativitaten - a musical dramatization of the meaning of Christmas with pirotecnics and lights - a Christmas Village, a night parade and the awesome Tree Lighting Show every evening.
During the 60 days of the event, Gramado (pop. 31,652) receives about 700,000 visitors. Even though Christmas of Light ranks first in Brazil in association with Rio Grande do Sul, you'll still be a pioneer of sorts if you choose to enjoy one of the most attractive cities in all of Brazil between November and January. According to the results of a survey recently released by Christmas of Light organizers, only 0.9% of visitors come from outside Brazil.
Christmas of Light History
Eleazar de Carvalho (1912-1996), one of Brazil's great conductors, opened the first Christmas of Light in 1986 with a musical concert in Gramado.
Over the years, the event has engaged local residents in an ever growing degree. More than 2,000 people are directly involved in preparations, and volunteer work is a major part of Christmas of Light, considered one of the most organized events in Brazil.
The event has an environement-friendly character, too. Most of the decorations are manufactured using recycled soda bottles which are collected year round at Gramado schools, with prizes for the greatest amount collected. Decorations are reused the next year.
Christmas of Light 2009
The upcoming Natal Luz will go from Nov.12, 2009 - January 17, 2010, a week longer than in previous editions of the festival.
This year, the Christmas Village has been completely renovated and Santa Claus will come from Rovaniemi, the capital of Finland, for a three-day visit starting on Nov.26.
Find out more about this year's Christmas of Light Top Attractions.
You can view them on the Christmas of Light Interactive Map.How to Get to Gramado
Gramado is located just 135 kilometers (83 miles) from Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. The route is RS-115, a road with very good driving conditions. If you would like to rent a car in Porto Alegre and drive, download a road map.
Alternatively, you can take a bus from the Porto Alegre Terminal. Look Gramado up in the Schedule Finder.
