The ("Route of Lights"; ) is a

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

held every autumn in Eindhoven, in the southern

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It starts with a parade on 18 September, celebrating the liberation of Eindhoven during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposin ...

on that date in 1944. The ''Lichtjesroute'' is celebrated not only to commemorate the liberation, but also to create an illusion of "fairytales in light".

Origin

During the first commemoration of the liberation of Eindhoven, following the Battle of Eindhoven in September 1944,Military History: http://old.506infantry.org/hiswwii/his1stbnwwiiphoto16.html a (Committee of Party Lighting) was formed. Committee members included the Municipal Energy company ,

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, the Federation of Neighbourhood Associations (), the Eindhoven Installer Association (), and the tourist board Association for Foreign Traffic (). The committee had the idea to give the celebrations some extra light. The inhabitants of Eindhoven were asked to help by making their houses shine in any way possible for one day. Because many things were still in short supply so soon after the war, this was mostly restricted to candles at the windows. After 1947, the Foundation for Liberation Commemoration () took over coordination of all festival activities. The original day of lights was transformed into a "route of lights". In several places throughout the city, dubbed ''Focal Points'' or ''Fire Points'' (), celebration lighting illuminated the area for four days, between 20:00 and 24:00 each day. In the following years, the number of Fire Points grew steadily. By 1969, 25 years after the liberation, the route had grown to a length of no less than . This would be the last year the ''Lichtjesroute'' was celebrated for more than a decade. In 1984, a number of enthusiasts decided it was time to give the ''Lichtjesroute'' a new life. Through a mailing, a thousand corporations were asked for financial support, and the local media called for volunteers to help make the new ''Lichtjesroute'' a reality.

The route today

The ''Lichtjesroute'', as revived in 1984, consists of a route through the centre of Eindhoven and through the suburbs of Stratum,

Strijp Strijp is a former town in the Dutch province of North Brabant, now a borough of Eindhoven. Strijp was a separate municipality until 1920, when it became part of Eindhoven. The Philips Stadion, home of football team PSV Eindhoven is based in Strij ...

, and Woensel. The route is about long and is especially popular with smaller children. Families usually travel the route by car; officials have also made it friendly for

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

s who want to follow the route. The route is indicated by reflecting "pointer" signs that show an arrow and a red picture of a light bulb. On some signs, the text (cycle route) is also added, to indicate areas where cyclists should follow an alternate route. Along the route, various frames with ornaments made from lights are mounted onto lamp posts. The ornaments depict various objects and animals; some have World War II–themed imagery. Ornaments are usually grouped by common themes—all animals are located together, for example. The placement of the ornaments changes each year, but in some places, the same ornaments are shown each year. For example, ("Half-moon Street") is always decorated with half-moon crescent shapes. The area always has ornaments of

astrological sign In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30-degree sectors that make up Earth's 360-degree orbit around the Sun. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. ...

s, because the streets there are named after characters from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representa ...

. In ("White Village"), there are no ornaments—but red, white, and blue lamps, symbolic of the

flag of the Netherlands The national flag of the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlandse vlag) is a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue. The current design originates as a variant of the late 16th century orange-white-blue '' Prinsenvlag'' ("Prince's Flag"), evo ...

, are placed on the bay windows, where they shine onto the white houses. Special resting places are designated on the route, where people can stop for a snack or walk around; one such area is , a square and small park in a residential area. These points are usually the busiest on the route, and as a result, traffic jams are common there.

Sustainability

In 2006, the Foundation started replacing the

incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxid ...

s with

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (co ...

s (LEDs); an initial batch of one thousand LED bulbs was installed. Over time, the incandescent lights will be retired; wholesale replacement of the existing bulbs would be too expensive.

Compact fluorescent lamp A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), also called compact fluorescent light, energy-saving light and compact fluorescent tube, is a fluorescent lamp designed to replace an incandescent light bulb; some types fit into light fixtures designed for inca ...

s, used to save energy in other applications, are not a viable solution because they are not suitable for outside lighting.

References

{{reflist

External links

De Lichtjesroute
Culture in Eindhoven Festivals in the Netherlands Tourist attractions in North Brabant Autumn events in the Netherlands