Lantern Walk 4:30 Wednesday November 11

Each child in the kindergarten has begun to make his or her lantern. This year we are painting a glass jar with egg white and covering it with colored rice paper. They will be ready when you arrive for the Lantern Walk. Other candle lanterns carried by parents, grandparents and older siblings are also welcome.

The Lantern Walk, or 'Martinmas', is a festival with European roots. St. Martin was a Roman soldier of the fourth century who gave his cloak to a beggar and later in a dream saw Christ clothed in his cloak. He subsequently devoted the rest of his life to helping the poor. He was a man who carried an inner light in a time of darkness.This festival provides us with an opportunity to consciously mark the point in the cycle of the year when the light and warmth of the sun is retreating. The Lantern Walk allows us to experience the change of season in a sensory way.

A small bonfire and warm apple cider that we pressed at our Harvest Celebration will await families upon their arrival at the kindergarten. When all are gathered we will celebrate the circle time that the children are doing in the kindergarten. After the circle, parents or grandparents may light the children’s lanterns and we proceed along the path. The walk is not long but the experience is memorable. Stepping into the darkness we are guided only by the light of our lanterns and the luminaries placed along the pathway. We may hear an owl, a crackling stick, or the wind. If we are lucky, the stars will be shining overhead. We return to find the bonfire extinguished, but the sparks of light in our lanterns creating a large circle of warmth and community. We sing a final song, receive a ginger cookie and then proceed with the same quiet intention to our cars and then on to our homes.

To strengthen the mood of the Lantern Walk, some possibilities are:

* Please be here by 4:30 so that car headlights don’t interrupt our walk. Dress warmly and wear good walking shoes. Please, no flashlights on the walk.

* Although the event is short, you might expand it into an opportunity to have a more mindful day to in order to be more receptive to the mood of the evening. You might try to notice some of the signs that mark the retreat of autumn, or to work a little more slowly and deliberately than normal throughout the day, or to have a pot of warm soup ready upon return home to eat as a family by candlelight.

* End the evening by getting ready for bed early and then telling your young childrena story rather than reading them a book. (Children love any story you tell, no matter how simple you think it is. If you have never done this, here is a suggestion: Tell a story about a family - with the same makeup as your own - that walks by a lantern one night in order to help an elderly neighbor who is sick.)