Christmas tree lit at New York s Rockefeller Centre

New York Nov 30 (IANS) Thousands of revellers gathered in the Rockefeller Centre here to watch the annual lighting of the world s most famous Christmas tree the media reported.

Mayor Bill de Blasio flipped the switch at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday to illuminate the 75-foot-tall 12-tonne Norway spruce with 50 000 multi-coloured lights and the iconic Swarovski star more than two weeks after the tree arrived in Rockefeller Plaza from State College Pennsylvania reports NBC News New York.

This year s lighting ceremony featured performances by popstars Gwen Stefani Seal Jennifer Nettles Train and the Pentatonix.

The tree will be lit every day from 5.30 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. until January 7 2018 except for Christmas Day when it will stay lit for 24 hours.

Additional security measure were deployed in the wake of last month s truck attack in Tribeca.

The annual holiday tradition started in 1931.

This year s tree is the 86th to sit over the Rockefeller Centre rink.

After the holiday the tree will be donated to Habitat for Humanity an international non-profit working on poverty housing. It will be made into lumber and used for home building.

--IANS
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