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Tallest Christmas tree still on a gum tree
View(s):The “world’s tallest Christmas tree” that Sri Lanka built has still not been evaluated by Guinness World Records. The reason: The application was lodged in the wrong category.
It was 10.07am on August 18, 2016, when Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga cut out a square of earth on Galle Face Green and laid the foundation stone for what he hoped would be the world’s tallest Christmas tree. Implementation would be through the Arjuna Ranatunga Social Welfare Society. The goal was to break Mexico’s record of a tree 295 feet in height.
The project was to cost Rs. 200 million in private sponsorships, be lit up with 800,000 bulbs and decorated with two million pine cones. It suffered a temporary glitch in November. Construction was stopped after Colombo’s Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith called it “wasteful expenditure”. But work resumed after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe intervened with the Cardinal. The tree was inaugurated on Christmas day. The tree, some said was oddly shaped, but lovely with the lights on. Because of the delay in construction, it was also a little shorter than expected.
But the big question was: Did the Welfare Society fulfil its mission? The first response from a spokesperson for Guinness World Records was negative. “We haven’t received an application for this specific attempt and therefore this Christmas tree isn’t an official Guinness World Records title holder,” she said. “To be successful in this category, applicants would need to follow stringent guidelines involving the materials used, the dimensions and how they document this evidence through witnesses, statements and photo/videos.” A source from the Ranatunga camp said they had, indeed, lodged an application with Guinness and had been allocated a reference number. The application was submitted online on August 18 under the name of Mangala Gunasekera.
Back it was to Guinness World Records. This time the spokesperson had this to say: “This application hasn’t been made to the category for the largest artificial tree. Once it has been uploaded to the correct category and evidence has been submitted, it can take up to 12 weeks for our records management team to review.”
Meanwhile, a Sri Lanka Catholic movement called The Catholic Expression has notified Guinness World Records that the organisers have already poached its logo while also complaining that the “Christmas tree” looks nothing like a Christmas tree. It has no ornaments or green fir. “It has a green mesh which does not depict the natural fir requirement,” the letter states. “The metal structure of the tree is completely visible (evidence attached), and the shape of the tree looks like a bell (more say it looks like a rocket) rather than a Christmas tree.
It remains to be seen whether Guinness World Records shares this opinion — once the application is finally lodged in the correct category.