On the way out for a day of sightseeing in Seville we walked past three huge crowns in the Plaza de San Francisco, festooned with Christmas lights. Dusk was descending as we headed back to the apartment a few hours later, so we decided to retrace our steps to see what the crowns looked like at night.

We found the plaza about 5:30. It wasn’t quite dark, so we grabbed a seat at a sidewalk café, ordered a coffee, and settled in to wait until the lights came on. Gradually, the plaza began to fill up. And fill up. Within an hour, the plaza was packed with a couple of thousand people, standing shoulder to shoulder. Families with kids in strollers. Young couples. Old folks. All waiting for the lights to come on.

I like Christmas lights as much as the next guy, but this seemed a little strange. This many people just to watch Christmas lights? Still, it was Saturday and maybe this is what passes for typical family entertainment on a weekend in Andalusia.

Hanging lights in a few trees came on as it got darker, and people cheered and clapped. A few minutes later, overhead lights were activated in the streets feeding into the plaza. More cheers and clapping. But even as it got darker, the crowns remained dim. 6:30, and nothing. 6:45 came and went, still no lights.

Finally, at 7, the lights came on. Or to be more accurate,the show began. Lights in all three crowns began to flash, and an electronic version of Carol of the Bells pumped out of speakers set up around the plaza. The crowd went crazy.

This wasn’t just lights coming on. This was an event. The light installation at the Plaza de San Francisco is a much-anticipated annual occurrence, one that helps kick off the Christmas season. Sometimes the display is over-sized ornaments. This year is was the crowns representing the Maji, the kings who brought gifts to Jesus.

It was hard to leave after the show because of the throngs moving in different directions, trying to make their way inside one of  the crowns, and randomly stopping to take selfies. We felt sorry for the poor moms pushing strollers. But everyone was in good spirits, not minding the jostling.

We later found out that the show plays on the hour, starting at 7, every night of the Christmas season. We saw it when we passed through the plaza a few days later. This time there was only a few hundred people, and we didn’t have to fight the hordes on our way through.

But even though it was less crowded and easier to get around, it wasn’t as cool as accidentally being there for the first show of the season.