Local Holiday Traditions
Practice
Attend the local holiday traditions in your neighborhood.
Ask neighbors to share their experiences of the local holiday traditions.
Invite neighbors to meet you to share the experience.
“If we are to preserve culture we must continue to create it.”
Local holiday traditions create memorable connections with our neighbors and neighborhoods. For citizens in the city of Littleton, the Candlelight Walk and Tree Lighting is a beloved tradition that marks the beginning of the holiday season. For more than 40 years, neighbors gather the Friday after Thanksgiving in downtown Littleton to witness the lighting of Main Street. It is a shared holiday tradition that magically weaves a city back together each year.
Growing up in Littleton, Tyann DeClue, remembers the sight of Main Street lined with people holding candles and hot cocoa and the sound of Christmas carols being sung by high school choirs. Some years the weather was mild, others it could be a freezing blizzard. Regardless, neighbors were committed to coming together as a community. Tyann shared her memory of kids running back and forth across Main Street and how it made a growing city feel like a small town again. Main Street would magically illuminate one block at a time and culminate with one lucky child’s name drawn to light the giant Christmas Tree. This local holiday tradition has served as an unofficial reunion for local elementary and high school students who reunite each year.
Over the years, the texture of the Littleton holiday tradition has changed. Technology has introduced an entertaining illuminated parade and a drone light show. Many of the businesses on Main Street have changed over the decades, but most continue to remain open late for this special evening. It is a tradition that offers continuity for the community, connecting the past with the present.
Holiday traditions can create shared experiences for a city, bridging generations and varied backgrounds. Neighbors whose lives look very different stand side by side, sharing a magical moment. The Littleton Candlelight Walk is a tradition without corporate sponsors, city officials, or specific religious recognition. It is neighbors and neighborhoods choosing to come together to create a common memory. The practice of communal holiday traditions is a meaningful way to connect and to cultivate shared memories with your neighbors.
Thank you to Tyann DeClue for sharing her memories and her contribution to this article.
