“George’s Lantern” was written by Mary Blanche, an EC teacher from Boulder Colorado. When I first started teaching parent-child class many years ago with my dear friend Sue, we presented this story as a puppet play.
Lantern walks
This was a new celebration for me. I first learned about it when I took parent-child class with my daughter, Gabi.
We celebrate the turning of the seasons. This one is about halfway between the fall equinox and winter solstice. As the days grow shorter, we can bring the light of the sun within ourselves. We can let our own light shine out into the darkness. And we can find the light in each other–in community.
In parent-child class, we made simple lanterns out of baby food jars and tissue paper. The sight of 30 or so families carrying our lanterns into the dusk was quite moving.
I have shared instructions for making lanterns in this post and this one, too.
The story:
George’s Lantern
Lying in the meadow grass,
And gazing at the Autumn sky,
“Dear Father Sun,” said George out loud,
“It will be Winter, by and by.
“The nights will be long, dark and cold,
Jack Frost will freeze the ground.
How shall I find the light,
With so much darkness all around?”
Said Father Sun, “I’ll give you from my
Last Autumn rays–a spark,
If you will make a little house
To hold it in the dark.
With paper, paint, some windows,
And a candle it was done!
George came out and held his lantern
Up to Father Sun.
Suddenly the windows lit,
The spark was dancing bright.
Carefully, George carried home
His lantern in the twilight.
I’ll do the story this week for the children in my class.
Here are the puppets I made–they are refurbished from other stories–Father Sun was the parson in The Golden Goose and I don’t remember what story the boy was in.
I used wool I dyed using the Redding Method for Father Sun.
We’ll be making lanterns this week with glass jars and tissue paper and star garland handles–simple and beautiful–for our lantern walk this Friday.