One man. Six weeks of work. 40,000 lights. Those were the Salt Lake City Temple Square lights in 1965.
Fast forward to 2012 and you find hundreds of workers and four months to put up over a million lights.
But while the Christmas lights at Temple Square have certainly grown over the years, the purpose hasn’t changed. As Elder Richard L. Evans said at the first lighting ceremony, “We thought that Temple Square should be a place where men could come and reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.”
And that’s still true today.
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
You can also learn everything you need to know if you're planning to make a visit this year and read about other temples around the world that put up Christmas light displays.
The South Gateway to Temple Square becomes a curtain of light with the welcoming words, "Good Will Toward Men" on December 18, 1965. Photo from Deseret News.
It’s hard to imagine that the Temple Square lights almost didn’t happen. In the fall of 1965, when Deseret News publisher E. Earl Hawkes proposed a Christmas display to President David O. McKay, the head gardener at Temple Square was worried that heat from the lights would harm the trees. But after much debate, President McKay decided to go ahead with the project (some say at the urging of his wife, who thought the Church should do more to share their beliefs at Christmas) and gave the task to arborist J. Leland Behunin—though Behunin had never lit a tree in his life.
During the first few years of hanging the lights, Behunin had few tools and no ladders. But the effort made it all worth it when 15,000 people attended the first Lighting of Temple Square ceremony on December 9, 1965.
Today, the lights are a year-round project. Church employees and volunteers begin putting the lights in the trees in August, the lights are turned on from the Friday after Thanksgiving until New Year’s, and it takes another two and a half months to take them down. It’s certainly a lot of work, because just one tree can have up to 75,000 lights. And in the meantime, there’s a lot of planning that has to happen.
Lights on the trees aren’t the only things bringing the message of Christ to Temple Square, though. Luminaries line the walkways and fountains, proclaiming messages of Christ and featuring scenes from Christ’s life. Several different nativities—including one with music and narration, a floating nativity on the reflecting pond, and several small nativities from different parts of the world—also portray the global message of Christ. Concerts convey the message on the backs of musical notes. And people carry it in their hearts as they wander the grounds.
“It’s really nice to hear and see families come together and walk the Square,” said Eldon Cannon, group manager of grounds services at Temple Square. “It gives them the opportunity to reflect on what the holiday season is really about.”
Each year, the number of visitors increases as rapidly as the number of lights. In 1970, the lights attracted more than 250,000 visitors, and by 1986, more than 250,000 lights decorated the grounds. By 1999, there were more than 750,000 lights and countless tens of thousands of visitors. Today, both numbers have reached well beyond the ability of workers to keep track of—but the number of lights is believed to be over one million, and the visitors number in the millions as well.
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
All the Pretty Colors
One time-consuming task that lasts all year is finding the perfect colors for the displays. The grounds workers start by sending an incandescent color strand to the manufacturer, who then tries to match it and sends back several LED color samples. The Church workers send back comments, receive back more samples, and so on, until they find the perfect hue.
Some of the colors just didn’t work—purple, for example, made it look like Halloween—and some had to be found in other ways—for example, using both blue and green lights to produce teal. The most popular colors on the grounds, though, are the traditional Christmas hues: white and red.
Christmas lights glow on Temple Square, Dec. 2, 1978. Photo from Deseret News.
Did You Know?
In 1973, in response to U.S. president Nixon’s request to conserve energy during the energy crisis, the Church did not turn on the Christmas lights on Temple Square.
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
Temple Square sparkles with 100,000 lights, Bethlehem scenes of shepherds, Christ's birth on December 9, 1967. Photo from Deseret News.
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
Why Not Just Leave the Lights Up?
The workers at Temple Square are proud of the unique style they’ve cultivated, which includes wrapping each individual tree branch with lights. It’s a laborious process, but it allows the lights to display the tree’s natural form in a beautiful way not normally seen in regular Christmas light displays. The size of a plant changes each year, though, with anywhere from 18 inches to six feet of growth, so the lights used one year may not fit the tree properly the next.
The re-creation of the Christ child lying in a manger on Temple Square. This photo was taken on Dec. 4, 1976. Photo from Deseret News.
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
Did You Know?
The “White Nativity” of Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus floating on the reflecting pool, with the wise men and shepherds on either side, is actually the original nativity that decorated the temple grounds, but repurposed. After it began wearing, the groundskeepers decided to look for a new nativity set but didn’t want to completely get rid of the first. Instead, they covered the clothed figures in a resin that made them waterproof and white, and eventually the nativity found a new home in and around the reflecting pool.
Temple Square lighting ceremony held on Dec. 18, 1983 included exhibits inside the visitors center. Here Jenny Cannon, 4, and her brother, Danny, 8, take a wide-eyed look at a beautiful Christmas Tree. Photo from Deseret News.
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
Going Green
Since 2009, the lights have been undergoing a big change—from incandescent lights to LED. Now it is almost complete.
LED lights save on energy and money, consuming a fraction of the electricity that the incandescent lights would, and they are easier to maintain. They’re also better for the trees. If you’ve ever tried to unscrew a light bulb immediately after it burns out, you’ll know how hot they get. If you wrap a tree in thousands of those lights and turn on that switch, says head groundskeeper Eldon Cannon, “It generates enough heat around the buds that it deceives the buds into thinking, ‘Oh, it must be spring.’” When the lights turn off late in the evening and the temperatures plummet to 20 degrees, it’s hard for the trees to adjust to the constant switching. LED lights, though, don’t produce that same heat—which means less damage to the trees’ structure and less bugs and disease.
A bride on Temple Square in December 2011. Photo by Joey Ferguson.
President Ezra Taft Benson and his wife Flora sit with other Church Authorities at the opening of the lights on Temple Square on December 1983. Photo from Deseret News.
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
Mary and Joseph are greeted by the innkeeper in a scene on Temple Square, Dec. 17, 1966. Photo from Deseret News.
Spreading the Light of Christ
People from all different countries, religions, and walks of life have visited the Christmas lights, and all have found their own way to share in the holiday spirit. Stories of proposals, family traditions, and more abound.
One couple—not LDS—comes every year all the way from North Carolina to see the Christmas lights, “Because no one celebrates Christmas like the Mormons do.” When a Christian family from Armenia came to Temple Square, they were touched to be able to see the nativities; in their own country, they had never been allowed to display their faith so publicly.
And with the throngs of people coming to see the lights, a great deal of missionary work is bound to go on. “It’s just wonderful to be here at Christmas time. So many people come in and ask so many questions,” says Skip Reese, a hostess of twelve years at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. “The decorations are so beautiful, and they’re all just so ready to hear good things, and we’re ready to tell good things.”
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
President David O. McKay, with the assistance of President N. Eldon Tanner, opens the first lighting of Temple Square on December 9, 1965. Photo from Deseret News.
Photo by Joey Ferguson, December 2011.
You can also learn everything you need to know if you're planning to make a visit this year and read about other temples around the world that put up Christmas light displays.