Light Festival Ghent 2012

Why do all the light festivals seem to happen everywhere except the U.S.? I feel a topic of debate for the presidential candidacy should be how much of the budget to allot for decorating our government buildings with awesome luminescent displays. In the most elaborate light decoration we’ve seen so far, the Luminarie de Cagna in Ghent, Belgium was illuminated with 55,000 bright LEDs for the city’s 2012 Light Festival.

The 91-foot tall cathedral, among other buildings, stood in a divine glow, astounding tourists and angering civilians that couldn’t fall asleep with all that luminescence penetrating their windows. But why would you wanna sleep with a scene like that? What’s sad is that the city’s light bill still probably came out cheaper than mine. You could say the religious structures mimicked the New Testament’s Transfiguration of Jesus where Christ transforms into a radiant beams of light to prove his holiness. You could also say they were more lit up than the pope’s Christmas tree. Believer or not, you have to admit the whole festival is sort of…enLIGHTening.