Lantern festival at the Nazgul's library

[yakalskovich]

At the library where brickling works (the International Youth Library at Blutenburg castle on the outskirts of Munich -- one of the coolest places ever to work!), there is a lantern festival every year during advent, referring to some old Bavarian customs about or around St. Lucy's Day. It takes place on the pond behind the castle, which you here see in last fading light of the evening.



For that, the children of the area who use the 'Book Castle' as an everyday lending library made those little houses, churches, castles and towers from cardboard and coloured transparent paper during the last few weeks at the library, glued them on a bit of wood or clapboard, and brought them to let swim on the pond with a tea light inside for this festival.



They came in a procession with candles from the local church a stone's throw away (complete with brass band playing Christmas carols) and then put the little 'light houses' on the pond. Most hugged the shore, though, as the kids had them on string and wouldn't let them go. The Nazgul said as far as she knew, not letting go wasn't the point of the celebration, but well...



It did look very pretty, though.-

And then we went and had mulled wine at the Christmas market inside the castle.

Comments

[yakalskovich]

The Nazgul said that usually the janitor takes a boat out on Saturday morning after the festival and collects them all...

But along general lines, that's a sensible way of thinking. Especially as it's not running water which would just carry it all away.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I just had a sudden, and deeply sad, thought of how much Charlie Shaw would have enjoyed that whole process. I really miss the little guy.

[yakalskovich]

Oh yes!

I miss MM, too. A lot, sometimes. This short comment of yours just gave me that entire plot bunny about how some bookish girl who used to do an internship at the Nazgul's library (they do have three to five interns and research students with scholarships from all over the world there at any given time!) introduces that custom for the kids at the Manor day care, and they do it on a pond in Riverwalk Park, for the second or third year already this year, with the kids from the kindergartens and elementary schools of the area, and of course all the Manor kids involved. With stalls offering mulled wine and cider, and little hot somethings from the restaurants in and around Vine Square sold at stalls to nurse in cold hands while watching the little boats drift and chatting to the neighbours while the kids poke their little 'houses' with sticks so they swim out properly. At some stage, some grown-up would just have to fall into the pond while preventing an incautious kid from doing so, and in the morning Charlie (and perhaps two or three helpers that were along to organise he nuts and bolts of the whole thing) would take out some inflatable rubber boats to collect the burned-out lanterns, perhaps having to negotiate with an irate swan who dislikes how much its territory is being invaded...

All the kids people were having are really old enough now. Even little Morgan Temminck is three already and will have her own little house swimming on the pond.