The LDS Church began its annual tradition of lighting Temple Square with Christmas lights in 1965.Church Information Service Report. (February 1967). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, available through L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library. The first years included life-size displays of the manger and the inn, performances of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, and a one night performance of Handel's Messiah. The tradition spread to other temples including the Washington, D. C. Temple in 1978 and Los Angeles in 1979. Church meetinghouses around the world began to similar Christmas lighting programs around the same time.
