Meghalaya's 100-yr-old tree decked up for Xmas, New Year

Meghalaya's 100-year-old towering coniferous pine tree that withstood the 1897 Assam earthquake, is all lit up to usher in the Yuletide spirit.
The 80-feet-tall pine tree in the fore lawn of the All Saints Cathedral, the tallest and oldest tree in the Northeast, could possibly lay claim to such fame in the country too as record of such a tree is not heard elsewhere, Rev P B Lyngdoh, who heads the church, told PTI today.
The tree has remained lit every single Christmas since it was planted in the 1880s, he said.
It had withstood the test of time and the devastating 1897 Assam earthquake which destroyed parts of the old church.

"Every time the tree is lit, it tells the world that Christmas is around and every evening hundreds of visitors come to look at this giant coniferous pine tree," Lyngdoh said.
Likewise, other churches and chapels in the city are decked up for the season with the ubiquitous pine tree lit up in a corner.

Besides lights and colours, music is in the air as tribal Christians come out of their homes and throng the streets singing Christmas carols.
Iew Duh, the biggest market in Shillong, is flooded with vendors selling special Christmas flowers, available only for less than a month every year during Christmas.

Street corners are also full of vendors selling pine branches at this time of the year.
However, the Yuletide season also keeps forest official on toes.
"We maintain strict vigil in our forests to ensure that pine saplings are not uprooted for sale," a forest official said.