STIRLING Castle and Edinburgh Castle have rekindled a festive tradition with their annual “Battle of the Christmas Trees”.
Taking to social media, staff at both iconic Scottish castles are eagerly posting snaps of their trees, in a bid to win the public’s favour.
Both trees are decked out inside the castle halls, with Stirling’s standing at eight metres tall, and Edinburgh’s holding over 400 baubles.
In a video posted on social media, staff at the two castles praised their own decorations, but it’s up to the public to decide which deserves to win.
Edinburgh Castle also invited the likes of Camera Obscura & World of Illusions and Mary King’s Close to join the battle, with the former sharing a photo of their upside-down Christmas tree, in keeping with their other mind-bending attractions.
Whilst the Christmas tree at Stirling Castle is covered in 30 metres of gold lights, Edinburgh Castle boasts that their tree is locally grown and has over 50,000 needles on each branch.
Stirling Castle clinched the top spot last year, and seems to be gaining the majority of votes this year too.
In social media post, the staff of Stirling Castle wrote: “Forget Christmas Eve, Day, or any of the other festive dates, because the most important day in the Christmas calendar is finally here, it’s time for the Battle of the Christmas Trees.
“Who will be crowned winner? Will it be our fabulously festive and well fir-nished tree or will it be Edinburgh Castle’s tree?
“After our much-deserved win last year we’re battling to bring the title back home and you better tree-lieve our bau-belter of a tree will win it again.
“You have until Thursday 19 December to cast your vote in the comments below, simply put the name of your favourite castle’s tree below.
“So that’s ‘Stirling Castle’ to vote for Stirling or ‘Stirling Castle’ to vote for Edinburgh’s tree.
“You can find our beautifully decorated tree in the Great Hall of the Castle all throughout December and share your photos of our tree in all its festive glory with us on any of our social channels.”
Edinburgh is also home to the UK’s tallest knitted Christmas tree, which stands at 16ft tall and was created by community group, The Heart of Newhaven, in a bid to raise awareness and tackle loneliness and bring different generations together.
Samuel Wilson, Digital Content Designer at Historic Environment Scotland, said today: “Our Battle of the Christmas Trees is an annual tradition harking back to 2018, where we share the Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle Christmas trees on social media and our followers can cast their votes for their favourite. Staff and visitors got really invested from the get-go, and they still do every year!
“It was originally quite a simple affair which started when we joined a lively Twitter debate started by our friends at the National Museum of Scotland. Over the years it grown into a full-blown contest that involves photo shoots and, like this year, a film being made.
“With the exception of Edinburgh Castle’s win in 2022, Stirling Castle has taken the crown each year. Be sure to head to Historic Scotland’s Instagram or Facebook to watch the video and find out this year’s winner!”
