Thursday, November 6th:
Lantern Walk at IWS for enrolled EC families and siblings (see Friday Flyer for details)

Monday, November 10th, 6pm:
Lantern Walk at Dewitt Park for all IWS families, friends, neighbors, and general public!

A fall lantern walk is a traditional autumn celebration held as the days get shorter and the nights grow longer. It is a celebration that inspires a connection to the rhythms of nature, community, and the light within.

The Lantern Walk is a ritual designed to remind children that they are the light in the darkness, and this spark of life is within every one of us. On the night of the lantern walk, we light our luminaries and sing lantern songs to bring the light deep into our hearts as a way to carry it with us through the long dark days of winter.

The Lantern Walk symbolically affirms that our light can continue to shine even as the light and warmth of the sun wane. Only now, the light will come more from our hearts, homes, and the fellowship of our family and friends…

We light our lanterns and sing the songs together a couple of times. Then we will walk the illuminated path.

• Please walk with your child, don’t let them run - it helps everyone to carry on the meditative mood of this celebration.

• Sing with us! Let’s enjoy singing together. The links on this page are just for you, not for the children to watch and listen, as they learn these songs from their teacher in-person.

• Please turn phones off, so that our walk is not disturbed by artificial sounds, and also please refrain from chatting during the walk.

• If you happen to have extra lanterns at home, please bring them - for yourself, and/or for others. It is a good occasion to pass your extra lanterns to the new families!

• Dress warmly enough and wear sturdy footwear.

After the walk we ask you to take your child straight home to prolong the mood of serene joy… If possible, please avoid overloading your child ( and yourself) with additional visual or audio impressions in the evening… We would like the children to slip into their dreams with the lovely images of the softly glowing lanterns under the huge dark starry sky, and the warmth of walking and singing together…

Glimmer, Lantern, Glimmer

Glimmer, lantern, glimmer

Little stars a-shimmer

Over meadow, moor and dale

Flitter, flutter, elfin veil

Pee-wit, pee-wit, tikka-tikka-tik

Rucoo, rucoo.

Glimmer, lantern, glimmer

Little stars a-shimmer

Over rock and stock and stone

Wandering, skipping, little gnome

Pee-wit, pee-wit, tikka-tikka-tik

Rucoo, rucoo.

Glimmer Lantern Glimmer sung by Saltwater Waldorf School: Listen HERE.

I walk with my bright little lantern

I walk with my bright little lantern

My bright little lantern with me.

Above the starts are twinkling,

And down here twinkle we.

The light grows dim as we go in

La bimba la bamba la bim.

The light grows dim as we go in

La bimba la bamba la bim.

“I walk with my bright little lantern” sung by Cincinnati Waldorf School listen here.