Sri Lanka is getting ready to join dozens of other countries that have broken festive records by building the world’s tallest artificial Christmas tree.
A Wall Street Journal article explains why the tree nearly didn’t get made.
Below are a few other holiday records that remain unbroken, according to the Guinness World Records.
Tallest artificial tree
Sri Lanka looks set to break this world record when it finishes building its 325 ft tree.Mostly Buddhist workers of the country’s ports authority and hundreds of volunteers are building the tree from nearly 30 tons of steel and hundreds of yards of chicken wire. It will be decked in stars, bells and doves made from one million pine cones, and 300,000 lights.
Tallest cut tree
The world’s tallest cut Christmas tree was a Douglas fir that measured 221 ft and was erected and decorated at Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington, in December 1950.
Most lights on a Christmas tree
The most lights lit simultaneously on a Christmas tree was set at 194,672 by Kiwanis Malmedy and Haute Fagnes Belgium in Malmedy, Belgium, on Dec. 10, 2010. Guinness World Records said 350 garlands measuring 9 ft 10 ins long and fitted with 576 lights were hung on the tree. Using voltage calculations, witnesses measured exactly how many lights were successfully lit throughout the required 5 minutes.
Largest human Christmas tree
The largest human Christmas tree was made up of 4,030 participants and organized by Mission Chengannur and Sobhana George in the village Chengannur, India, on Dec. 19, 2015. The human tree was mostly made up of school children from the village.
Largest Christmas tree structure
The largest Christmas tree structure was 419.91 ft tall and was built by Energisa Sergipe in Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil in December 2009. The structure was decorated with 25,200 redhot lights and 3,144 strobe lights.
Largest floating Christmas tree
The largest floating Christmas tree was another Brazilian construction, measuring almost 279 ft and was erected in Rodrigo De Freitas Lagoon in Rio De Janeiro for Christmas 2007. 2.8 million micro lamps and 22.99 miles luminous hose were used on the tree.
Fastest time to decorate a Christmas tree
The fastest time to decorate a Christmas tree was 36.89 seconds and was achieved by Sharon Juantuah in Essex, U.K., on Nov. 22, 2013.
Most expensively decorated Christmas tree
The most expensively decorated tree was valued at around $11 million and was erected and displayed by the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, UAE, for nearly two weeks in December 2010. The tree was covered with 181 items of jewelry and stood 43.2 ft high.
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