The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A Christmas tree with a difference

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Monday, Dec 21, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A Christmas tree with a difference

Staff Reporter

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Green initiative: The Christmas tree made out of recycled material at Mar Thoma Church on Primrose Road in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: The Christmas tree at the Mar Thoma Church on Primrose Road is not your average tree. For starters, it is about 30 feet tall and its decorations are all made of waste material. Discarded video tapes, plastic bottles, newspapers and plastic bags double up as decoration material woven aesthetically around the tree.

Interestingly, choir members sought help from children with mental disabilities from the Marthoma Opportunity School to help create these unique decoration pieces.

An initiative taken by the Mar Thoma Church choir “in solidarity with the ongoing world initiative against climate change in Copenhagen’ , this tree they hope will encourage people to think about recycling and conserving waste material. Using this Christmas symbol to convey a relevant message to devotees who visit the church was an idea proposed by the choir’s secretary Daniel Thomas.

Named the ‘Peace Tree’, this is the second time the choir is carrying out such an initiative.

This is probably going to be among the biggest Christmas trees in Bangalore this year, says Roy Varghese, a choir member. “The idea behind using discarded material is to convey the message that all that is tagged as useless and worthless is still useable,” he added.

The tree took three weeks to complete. Besides discarded material it also has Origami Cranes, a Japanese symbol of long life and good health, as decorations. The ‘Peace Tree’ is meant to symbolise the necessity for care and protection of our earth.

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