The Sofia Christmas tree shone tonight with over 20,000 lights. At exactly 7:00 p.m., the lights illuminated the "St. Alexander Nevsky" square, BTA reported.
The Christmas tree is decorated in white and red with more than 1,300 decorations - Christmas flowers and figurines.
No matter how many lights we put in this city, it will never carry as much light as we do in our hearts, said Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev from the stage in front of the "St. Alexander Nevsky" cathedral. The mayor wished for a lot of light, warmth and to be better people.
The festive program began at 6:00 p.m. and was attended by the choir of the Sofia Theological Seminary "St. John of Rilski" with conductor Nikolay Georgiev, Poli Genova, Orlin Pavlov, the children's vocal group "Smehorancheta" with director Galina Kodzhamanova and the Combo ensemble of the National Music Academy "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov" with director Mihail Yosifov and soloists Monika Velcheva and Daria Boeva.
The host of the festive program is actress Ventsislava Asenova. A mailbox for letters to Santa Claus is located next to the tree.
The lights on the Christmas tree are traditionally lit in Sofia on December 1 as a sign of the beginning of the holiday season. This year, however, due to the protest against the draft state budget for 2026, which took place last night, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev postponed the festive program by one day. "We made a different choice. We cannot celebrate while our fellow citizens are fighting against the political darkness, which is once again trying to extinguish any light of change," the capital's mayor said yesterday in a post on the social network.
As of December 1, "St. Alexander Nevski" Square is completely pedestrianized.