So German!

The German Heritage Language School held their annual Laternenfest with a potluck and lantern walk on November 5, 2016, in downtown Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.  Christine Hoehne, the Chair of the Language School, introduced the event by explaining the Laternenfest and St. Martin’s traditions in different parts of Germany.

Visitors perused and bought used German books, which raised $160 for the local food bank, in the spirit of St. Martin.  About fifty people attended the supper and brought delicious food for the Abendbrot-style potluck, including dark and light bread, vegetables, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and scrumptious desserts that the children flocked to.  After eating (sometimes seconds of dessert) we sang Laterne, Laterne, and Ich geh’ mit meiner Laterne all together in order to practise.  More people joined us for the lantern walk.  We lit our lanterns (a mix of store-bought and “I made it myself!”) and walked a loop that followed a path through the cemetery in Dartmouth and some nearby streets on a misty, moonlit night.  We returned to sing in a great circle in the yard, and then the school-aged children repeated the whole loop because another walk in the dark with a lantern through the cemetery was irresistible.