November 4 was the date chosen for our town's annual Turnip lantern parade. It is such a fun Swiss tradition! All the towns choose their own night sometime in the fall, and all the young children, and any adults that want to participate carve out turnips, put a candle in them and walk around town. It's about as low tech as it gets, with the tops of the turnips connected to the carved out bottom with twine, or you can choose to make a small hole in the bottom of your turnip and shove a candle up through it. In that instance, you then hold the top on with toothpicks, or just leave it off altogether. The problem with that option, is that if it is drizzling or windy during the parade, your candle tends to get blown out a lot!
Now that Sophie is in first grade, I only had one turnip to carve this year. Alexandra was too young for one, I will help her make one next year. Once you leave kindergarten, you are expected to carve your own. I can't think of any elementary school in America sending out notices to remind the kids to bring their knives to school the next day! haha
Last year at Christmas I bought these really tiny cookie cutters for the inside of Spitzbuben. (Jam filled cookies) I gave the girls each half, and let Noah pick out his choice from the remaining supply we had at home. He chose the Swiss cross and train engine. His turnip ended up looking like an advertisement for Swissrail, but he was happy, and that is all that matters. And did you know, the inside of a raw turnip is actually quite tasty? It is, try it sometime. A bit like a radish, we decided.
Since Nick and Amelia are now big fifth graders, they were chosen to help the younger children light their candles. Then they walked along the parade route, ready to relight any candles that needed it. Most of the other kids had those cool little lights with the long handles, but I just sent them off with a box of matches each. They ended up using quite a few of them, since it was drizzling off and on all night long.
In years past, I have walked along with the kids, since there was always one in preschool, and all the moms and kids go together in a big group. But this year, Alexandra and I just hung out at school waiting for the kids to make it through the village and back. Chris had come straight from work to see them off, then ran home to get some dinner. He came back just as they were arriving in the playground. I kind of missed being on the walk, and am looking forward to next year when Alexandra will be old enough for preschool.
They had a young marching/jazz band from the local cities to play music and entertain the spectators. They had played several tunes at the beginning while all the kids were lining up with their classes, and were assembling themselves to play another few tunes at the end. But then the sky opened up with a downpour that would have drowned anybody looking up with an open mouth. The kids all grabbed their instruments and music sheets and ran inside the school. Everyone else scattered, searching for shelter under the eaves around the building. It wasn't a complete disaster though; there was plenty of hot soup and cider to keep everyone warm and happy for a long while. When everyone had finally had their fill, the rain was over, and we were able to walk back to the car with no problem.
I am not sure what the kids love best about this tradition. Is it the fun of spending an entire school morning doing no real work, just carving your turnip? Is it the excitement of walking around outside at night by candlelight? Is it the chocolate stuffed bread you get from your teacher when the parade is over? Is it the fact that you get to stay up way past your bedtime? Hmm, perhaps it is a combination of all these things. Whatever it is, this is one tradition I hope never dies.