Make a lantern for the St. Martin's parade
On 11.11. is St. Martin's Day. This evening, children and their parents set off to light up the dark streets with numerous lanterns. This custom was born in memory of Martin of Tours, one of the most famous saints of the Catholic Church.
Why are we celebrating St. Martin's Day?
According to legend, Martin rode along a street on a freezing winter day when he met a freezing beggar at the gates of Amiens. Martin took great pity on the beggar, sharing his warm coat in two with his sword, and gave the beggar half of it.
The following night, in the dream, Jesus Christ appeared in the form of the beggar. Then Martin decided to become a Christian and lived in charity for the rest of his life.
Because of his good deeds, Martin was canonised by Tours after his death. On the day of his funeral, the 11th of November, AD 397, according to tradition, the way from the church to his grave site was accompanied by a procession of lights. The annual lantern processions are held in memory of Saint Martin and are designed to remind people to help others.
Tinker lantern
Lanterns for a lantern parade on St. Martin's Day can be made cheaply and individually with little skill.
For this you need per lantern:
- 1 cheese box (top and bottom), preferably made of chipboard
- Sandwich paper or tracing paper
- Watercolors / Watercolors
- adhesive
- wire
- scissors
- if necessary, some cooking oil
- Candlestick made of aluminum
The sandwich paper is cut according to the size of the cheese box and the desired height, including the adhesive edges. Then the paper is painted with motifs. There are no limits to the imagination here. Popular motifs are stars, moons or geese.
If the paint is dry, you can thinly rub the paper on the back with cooking oil, making the light shimmer through even more beautiful.
From the upper part of the cheese box, the lid is removed. Now, the lantern paper is first glued to the lower part of the cheese box and then attached to the lid at the top of the lantern from the inside. If you want, you can decorate the lantern borders with a border of colored paper.
When everything has dried well, use a sharp object (such as a needle) to prick two small holes into the edge of the cheese box lid and attach the wire to hang. The lantern stick can be made, for example, from a wooden hanger. Now only the light is missing. For this, a candle holder made of aluminum is glued to the bottom of the lantern, in which a real tealight or an LED tealight is placed.
Done is the lantern! Have fun with the after-work and singing: "I go with my lantern and lantern with me, ..." :-)
