The Columbia University community came together on December 3 to celebrate the holiday season at the annual Tree Lighting and Yule Log ceremonies. 

Tree Lighting 2015. Photo: Kelly Chan BC’17 The Tree Lighting Ceremony began in 1998 and has become an annual celebration of the lighting of the trees on College Walk. The Yule Log Ceremony can be traced back to the first decades of Columbia’s founding as King’s College. Its roots lie in medieval Scandinavia, where lighting a log was a pagan celebration of the warmth and spirit of the season. Each year, the Blue Key Society honors this tradition by processing with the Yule Log through campus and lighting the log in the hearth of John Jay Lounge. 

The ceremonies were hosted by the the four undergraduate student councils — CCSC, ESC, GSSC and SGA — and included student performances by Columbia a capella groups and rendition competition winners, as well as warm beverages and treats. In the spirit of the season, Up ’til Dawn and the Columbia MilVets were accepting donations for St. Jude’s Children's Research Hospital and Toys for Tots, respectively. 

Following the Tree Lighting Ceremony, alumni were invited to a reception in The World Room in the Journalism building.