Posted
November 10, 2013
Long
before there was such a nation as the United States of America, let
alone kids in the U.S. carving pumpkins into lanterns, kids in
Switzerland were carving beets and/or turnips into lanterns.
Beet
and turnip lanterns seem pretty challenging to me, because these root
vegetables are solid rather than hollow fruits filled with pulp and
seeds—and because root vegetables tend to be so much smaller than
pumpkins!
Apparently
beets and turnips were among the last vegetables harvested, which is
perhaps why the Swiss focused their harvest processions on these
particular roots. These days, large beets and turnips are grown
especially for Rebenlichter.
Kids
hollow out their beets or turnips, and carve patterns into their
surfaces. These days, they generally carve their lanterns in school.
Later, they light candles inside their lanterns as they walk in a
procession through the streets of their town. All of the ordinary
lights of the town are turned off so that everyone can enjoy the
lantern light!
I
have read that the experience of walking through their dark town with
just the light from root lanterns (but around 10,000 root lanterns!),
singing along with the other children in the procession, is a
beautiful and memorable experience for Swiss children. It sounds
really great, actually!
Also
on this date:
Plan
Ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
No comments:
Post a Comment