Augmented Reality

We invite you to explore 3 traditional Christmas stories as told through Instagram Filter animations. It’s easy – each story is posted on a large signboard onsite. Scan the QR code with your mobile device. An Instagram filter will automatically launch with the animation. Take photos or videos, and share them with friends.

About the filters:

The Christmas Spider:

The Christmas Spider is an Eastern European folk tale where small ornaments in the shape of a spider are traditionally a part of Christmas decorations. A poor but hardworking widow once lived in a small hut with her children. One summer day, a pine cone fell on the earthen floor of the hut and took root. The widow’s children cared for the tree, excited at the prospect of having a Christmas tree by winter. The tree grew, but when Christmas Eve arrived, they could not afford to decorate it. The children sadly went to bed and fell asleep. Early the next morning, they woke up and saw that a spider had covered the tree with cobwebs. The first rays of sunlight touched the webs and turned them into gold and silver. The widow and her children were overjoyed. This is sometimes said to be the origin of tinsel.

The Snow Queen:

The Snow Queen is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen published in 1844.

The devil has made a magic mirror that distorts everything. It reflects only the bad and ugly parts of people. One day his trolls drop the mirror. It shatters into a million pieces which are blown all over the earth. Splinters get into the heart and eyes of a young boy named Kai. The Snow Queen (Snedronningen), queen of the snowflakes or “snow bees”, travels throughout the world with the snow. She finds Kai and steals him away to her palace in the permafrost.

Kai’s friend Gerda is so concerned she sets out on a long journey through many lands and seasons until she finds him. Once reunited Gerda hugs Kai. Her tears melt away the troll mirror splinters and warm his heart. The movie Frozen is loosely based on this tale.

THE NUTCRACKER & THE MOUSE KING

“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” is a story written in 1816 by Prussian author E.T. A. Hoffmann.

Young Marie Stahlbaum’s favourite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive to battle the evil Mouse King. Upon victory, he whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. In 1892, the story was adapted by Russian coposer Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky for the ballet ‘The Nutcracker’.