For the last few years my family has attended the parade.
For the last two years we've been a part of the parade, attending workshops and making lanterns, then circling the Octagon in the center of the city with our community, family and friends, holding our lighted lanterns and welcoming back the sun.
Theres something completely magical about the lantern parade. It doesn't matter what faith you are, or what you believe in.
It's just very special, seeing the young children holding handmade paper and wooden lanterns. It makes you believe in magic again - real, childlike magic that enriches our lives with a sense of wonder and ethereal beauty.
We make the lanterns, and we circle the Octagon, because it helps us reconnect with our community and ourselves. Carrying a lantern reminds us who we are.
Making a lantern
The lanterns are made simply. The workshops cost $5 to attend, and that cost includes all the materials you need, plus supervision and instructions.
The lanterns are made from light wooden frames, fixed together with masking tape, over which is glued a light skin of tissue paper and old recycled dressmaking pattern paper.
The candle inside is secured with a small bit of wire. And the lantern is held loft with a stick of bamboo.
That's about it really. Nothing fancy.
Maybe thats why the lanterns are so magical. They're handmade. Although they all follow a few basic patterns - this year we had a choice of workshops and could make a bee, a ladybird or a cocoon - every lantern is different from the next.
A reflection of our world and ourselves
In nature, the differences between every individual give them their magic.
Nature might build to a basic design - all humans have a head, a body, two legs and two arms, for example - but the small differences between us make us all special and unique. They define who we are.
Likewise, the differences between the lanterns make the parade magical. If we held aloft factory-bought, perfectly made, cookie-cutter plastic lanterns, with battery-powered lights inside, that sense of wonder would die.
It would be little more than an army of batteries, rather than a gathering of people.
I'm probably saying stuff here that you all find a bit mundane and ordinary. But what worries me is that, like so many other organised events, I am now seeing a trend in the lantern parade for it to try, every year, to be that much bigger, that much better, and that much more "professional".
We're not there yet, but that addiction cycle is stirring in places.
It is a difficult lesson to learn that contentment and excellence lies in remaining the best version of ourselves, not in attempting to be something we're not, or trying to impress others for no-one's real benefit.
One official insisted that "ladybird lanterns (my husband's) and bee lanterns (mine) can't be together in the parade" and tried to separate our family, making us walk apart, suggesting that my four year old daughter couldn't walk next to her six year old brother.
We ignored him, of course!
But other hints were there. And it is a fine line we tread between being excellent as our own, unique selves and being mundane as a professional mass, having lost the magic that made us unique in the first place.
More than Disney will ever know
Would I want to be a part of a lantern parade that carried plastic Made In China lanterns and had regimented carriers? Would it be as magical? I don't think so.
Dunedin's lantern parade is magical because it values family and community above professionalism. And, in doing so, it achieves a beauty and magic no professional outfit - not even the Almighty Disney - could ever match.
I guess what I'm saying, in a long-winded way, is that God is hidden in the mistakes. Magic is hidden in uniqueness and the connections between people, and in the individuals themselves - not in sameness and mass production.
What makes me me and you you and that guy over there in the bare feet that guy over there in the bare feet is the differences between us.
The mistakes, if you want to call them that. And the relationships between us - the connections, the threads.
The lantern parade last night helped me realise this, and crystalise it inside me. It felt like a revelation. Maybe it was. So I wanted to share it with you.
Happy Midwinter everyone. Stay warm, and cherish the magic.
Have a lovely day!
8 comments:
I can't believe they wanted to separate your family! Perhaps they should take a leaf from the Castlemaine Show judges. The float in the parade my group entered was not at all professional looking, but we won best overall float because we had a lot of people, lots of decorations and a band.
I was only just thinking of this and bringing back memories of 7 years ago. It is something my children will never forget. Certainly magical.
YES YES YES!
beautiful post and I ADORE your lanterns. they ARE very magical. :)
What a gorgeous festival to attend! We have a mid Autumn lantern festival. Your lanterns are pretty amazing though!
Hi Pennie - I couldn't believe it either.
To be honest, my precise response to the official, under my breath was "go to hell". And another parent close by heartily agreed!
Yay to you for winning in the Castlemaine Show!
I think a lot of wise people recognise that it is the *people* who make these events, and that the "let's be professional" thing can get stuffed!
We have these events to share, to have fun, to build connections in our communities, and experiences and memories for our children and ourselves.
The last thing we need is anal retentive officials telling us our children can't walk together. Next thing they'll be preventing children with the "wrong" fairy costume (not Disney-certified, perhaps?) from entering costume parades!
Ooops, I think you pressed my RANT button! ;-)
Hi Bruise Mouse - The lantern parade is so lovely and friendly and just soooooo Dunedin!
I hope it stays friendly and homespun. My kids loved every moment, and my son took his Killer Bee lantern on the bus with him for News at school this morning! :-)
Hi Eco Yogini - It's so true about finding the magic in our differences, isn't it :-) It has taken me a long time to learn that lesson!
Happy Yule (Midsummer to you!)
Hi Mrs Bok - A mid autumn lantern festival would be so lovely!
I grew up in Hong Kong, and we used to have a Lantern Festival there too...I think it was a Spring festival though. Victoria Park the main park on HK island) used to be absolutely FULL of kids with cellophane lanterns with candles in them. It's still one of my best memories :-)
Enjoy your festival...these traditions are so precious and lovely!
Hi Leanne,
Our local community had their lantern pde the weekend before mid winter and it was wonderful. It's still a young event so pressure to conform hasn't really turned up, yet.
The local council runs limited "workshops" but in our artist heavy community there were lanterns of all shapes and sizes. Anyone that was to try and sort them by theme would have gone demented :-D
One of the most beautiful was probably one of the most simple.. a bamboo cane "tree" with decorated yoghurt pots as the candle holders. The flexing bamboo branches bobbed along as the owner walked and the translucent yoghurt containers had a wonderful soft glow.
My only disappointment was that many of the lanterns were not using candles for lighting but I also understand with lanterns that are to be carried by small children that some people worry.
Could you think how boring your parade would have been to look at if that official had got his way.. it would have turned into a spot the best ladybird contest when all you can see is a sea of ladybirds.
Kind Regards
Belinda
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