World's largest floating Christmas tree lights up in Brazil
Entertainment
World's largest floating Christmas tree lights up in Brazil
The lights are blazing from the world's largest floating Christmas tree -- a gigantic 85-metre high metal structure set on a lagoon in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Despite the rain, some 100,000 people flocked around the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon on Saturday (December 5) night to watch the fireworks show which has become one of the city's main tourist attractions over the past decade. This year, the tree constructed by Brazil's largest insurance company features images of Christmas wreaths flickering from its nearly three million lights.With the mountain-top Christ the Redeemer statue looking down on it, the tree stands as a brightly flashing symbol of peace in one of the world's most violent cities.The Christmas tree, first erected in 1996, is Rio de Janeiro's third biggest tourist event after the pre-lenten Carnival and New Year's Eve on Copacabana and other beaches. More than a million people are expected to view the structure before the lights are turned off on January 6. The Guinness Book of Records lists it as the world's largest floating Christmas tree.
