On the 7th Day of Christmas… Lighting of the Vessels – Lunenburg

On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

Each year, families gather in Lunenburg Harbour, to celebrate the Illumination of the Vessels, as they get ready to spend the winter snugly nestled along the wharves. It’s also when the Lobster Traps Christmas Trees are lit up! Here are some of the moments we were happy to enjoy, on our first Maritime Christmas!

November 24th 2023

I came upon these unique Christmas Trees on a Facebook group, We Love Nova Scotia. In early November, I watched Christmas Island, a Hallmark Christmas Movie filmed in Lunenburg, where they were telling the story of this wonderful tradition! That night, we noticed that there were 2 of them. We just thought there always 2! A few days agos, while researching lobster fishing, I came across this article (link here), which talks about the movie set, that took place in Lunenburg, last summer. That’s where I learned that the one with the snowman at the top was the one built for the movie.

In another article that you’ll find here, I learned that it’ is’s a rather recent tradition that would have started around 2001 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The Lobster Trap Trees are put up to celebrate the Holiday Season, the Fishing Industry, Family, and the Fishermen who have lost their lives at sea. In fact, the names of several of them can be found on the buoys.

Everyone came to meet Santa & The Grinch!

Traditionnal Music, Fiddle and Children dancing, brought smiles to everyone.

You can see The Bluenose on the right, behind the red building! In all our excitement… we forgot to go see it up close! In fact… to be honest, we thought the Bluenose was the one on the left and wondered what was that Tall Ship surpassing the Bluenose… It’s only looking at the photo, that I noticed its lights were blue! The big kids were very excited too!!!

December 5th 2023

A week later, a snow blanket… had covered the Harbour.

Inspired by the creativity of all the artists and artisans, I have met since we arrived, I decided to build our own tree, using the lobster traps I had bought a few weeks earlier. Believe me, I now understand how the lobster makes its way through the Parlor… to end up trapped in the Kitchen! It is through these same passages, that I installed the Christmas lights.

You may have noticed in the photos of the past few weeks… some funny glass bells. These are insulators that were used on old power lines. Over the past few years, I’ve picked up a few here and there. When we arrived in our new house, the previous owners had left about twenty of them! Since then, I’ve been using them as lanterns, with small LED tea lights. I had the idea of adding them to my tree and placing them on the multicolored lights, so they would take on, the different colors. A simple project that brought me great pleasure!

In one of my Blog Posts, my father’s younger sister Jacynthe, recognized the glass pieces and recalled that her mother (my grandmother) used to collect, clean and use them to decorate their cottage by the Richelieu River. If it hadn’t been for those pictures, I probably would have never heard this very touching story! Thank you, Jacynthe, for this beautiful gift!

December 30th 2023

My 2023 Maritime Christmas Tree!