The candles and lamps cast a "pearly light", with crowd of nearly 2000 thrown into "brilliant relief against a star-studded sky" on Christmas Eve 75 years ago this month.
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![Rebecca Sweett, 2, dancing to the music at Carols by Candlelight at Stage 88. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos Rebecca Sweett, 2, dancing to the music at Carols by Candlelight at Stage 88. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc78ed3xxdako32nfr45t.jpg/r0_0_4256_2828_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It was the first Carols by Candlelight held in Canberra, almost a celebration of peace after the end of World War II and in the midst of an electricity shortage.
A full choir of 80 people sang O Come, All Ye Faithful and While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks by Night that night, and members of the YWCA performed a nativity play.
And to conclude, the whole assembly sang Auld Lang Syne before dispersing into the night around the George V memorial in Parkes Place.
Three-quarters of a century on, the event still draws thousands and those well-worn carols remain well-loved - even if these days its a battery operated candle flickering by the thousand.
With performances from the Woden Valley Youth Choirs, the a capella sextet Sidenote, Tristan Davies, the Canberra City Band, the carols saw young and old enjoy a December evening in the lead up to a warm southern hemisphere Christmas - including a very special visit from Santa.
The Woden Valley Youth Choir has also celebrated its 50th year in 2019, with an expanded roster of choirs to cater for the slightly older boys whose voices are changing.
![Families gather at Carols by Candlelight at Stage 88. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos Families gather at Carols by Candlelight at Stage 88. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc78ed43dluaw1dpmow74z.jpg/r0_210_4082_2506_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Although changes to the Bush Fire Act in 1998 protected Carols by Candlelight from total fire bans - which had turned the previous year's rendition into "carols by torchlight" - real candles have been replaced by the safer, electric kind.
After a young girl's hair caught fire a few years ago, the Woden Valley Youth Choir organisers thought it best to donate the remaining stock of candles to the ACT State Emergency Service, which used them in emergency kits.
A spokeswoman for the Woden Valley Youth Choir, which runs the event, said the National Capital Authority had shown renewed commitment to Carols by Candlelight.
Last year, the choir was set to be charged a fee to hold the event at Stage 88 before the cost was eventually waived.
![Carols by Candlelight at Stage 88. Cathy Mitchell, Annie Ramsey 3 and Michael Lloyd. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos Carols by Candlelight at Stage 88. Cathy Mitchell, Annie Ramsey 3 and Michael Lloyd. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc78ed3zwjdxkevzpsd9o.jpg/r0_219_4256_2613_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
This year, the authority had been very helpful and accommodating to the community event, the choir spokeswoman said.
All money raised on Saturday night will be donated to programs run by Anglicare that support Indigenous young people in the Canberra region.
The charity was chosen by organisers in recognition of the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages.
The 2018 event raised more than $10,000 for the ACT Domestic Violence Crisis Service.
The Canberra carols are the second-longest running event of its type in Australia, according to organisers, and similar events have sprung up around the ACT.
Carols by Candlelight at Stage 88 is one of a number of carolling events around the national capital in the lead up to Christmas.