Celebrating lights
lanterns in buxton, and beyond
Are you lighting up your windows in February? We still have a few free kits available, (either email: stoneandwater@btinternet.com, or messenger through fb @stoneandwater). Visit our facebook page (@stoneandwater) to see the album of windows as they come in. A new gallery will be posted on this blog in the next few days.
Stone & Water grew from a pursuit of love and passion, on a cold and wintry February evening, when we paraded lanterns around the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton. A night when loss and sadness gave way to hope, passion and celebration, culminating in joy, dancing and music.
We thought we’d look at lanterns near and far, celebrations of light around our world. Lanterns have been used for centuries for many different purposes. They can be made of all sorts of materials.
Originally, they would have been made with naturally occurring things using fats as the fuel often as an open flame. Candles were developed and could be used in a case to protect the flame and cast the light further. Oil lamps gave light for longer and could be better controlled.
In winter, in our dark time, we have nights we can illuminate with glowing lanterns. We can welcome and encourage new light and new dawns.
In Slaithwaite, Yorkshire, the Moonraking Festival happens in February each year. Usually a grand parade of lanterns, this year they will be making window pictures and a “moonshine” trail for bubbles to explore in a covid safe way.
We all know about carving pumpkins at Halloween, but this tradition began through carving turnips or swedes. A child in Scotland or Ireland would be given a teaspoon to perform the annual tedious task of carving a tumshie or neep (turnip) potentially leading to RSI in later life. Crude faces would be carved out and a candle put inside. The smell was … interesting.
Here are a few examples from BBC Scotland ;
The tradition went with Scots and Irish migrants to America where they found more favourable vegetables to carve in the form of pumpkins. That tradition returned to the UK as pumpkins became more widely available and they became known more widely as Jack O Lanterns.
Even our Celtic neighbours now would prefer a pumpkin to carve, yet some still have a Scottish theme. Here’s an example from Aberdeenshire by Tracey Menzies and family.
At the Chinese Qingming Festival where family tombs are cleaned, lights are floated in lotus flowers to create a lake of lanterns to commemorate lost family members.
Also, from China we think of paper lanterns at Chinese New Year. Often red in colour as a sign of good fortune.
Near and far, Diwali is a festival of lights, diyas (small clay lamps), lanterns and candles may be burnt alongside celebratory art and dancing.
Old streetlights used to be lit and then snuffed out by someone each day by lamplighters.
You can read more about the history here.
http://zetaled.co.uk/news-2017/evolution-of-street-lighting/
You can still see some lamps like these in Buxton, albeit powered by electricity now.
In. Buxton, we had hoped to lay a trail of tiny bottle lanterns through the woods at Buxton Country Park during the middle weekends in February. That does not feel like a sensible thing to do just now so we thought we would turn things around. Instead of inviting the residents of Buxton to come into the woods, with lights, perhaps local people could bring the woods with lights into their homes. So, we have Winter Woodland Windows
There is more information, here
There are guides for making window panels, here (of course, you might make something other than a tree – we’ve already had one dramatic owl….)
And a guide to bottle lanterns, here
There are “make it yourself” films as well with links from the blog posts above or directly
Windows:
Bottle lanterns:
Please, share a little glowing joy with anyone wandering down your street of a dark evening at the end of winter…and please send us a photo of your window and we’ll add it to our gallery
Thanks:
To Sarah and Gillian for putting this blog together
To photographers and news posts where we found images
Stone and Water 