Children’s Lantern Festival At The Waldorf School Inspires A Coat Drive

More than 50 coats were collected and donated to the Norwalk Emergency Shelter by the second grade at Housatonic Valley Waldorf School in honor of Martinmas, a children’s light festival.

Celebrated in northern Europe, where Waldorf schools have their root, the Martinmas festival commemorates St Martin, the patron saint of beggars and outcasts who lived in the Middle Ages and was known for his ability to bring the light of human kindness to others. He is most renowned for the charitable act of tearing his cloak in two in order to share it with a cold and hungry beggar. As a response to this, the second grade at the school organized its coat drive.

At Martinmas, parents and children construct a simple, colorful lantern with cutout stars, moons and suns. They hear a special Martinmas story and sing songs, carrying their lighted lanterns outside into dusk. The magical procession of twinkling lanterns symbolizes the light of love and generosity illuminating the world.