The Lanternli Weg

I am kicking myself. Jackson's kindergarten had a traditional Swiss event and I forgot my camera. I thought for days how I HAVE to bring it, but I forgot.
   I am loosely translating the event title to be: The Little Lantern Way.  All the kindergarteners in the 3 local kindergartens made paper lanterns in school this week. Last night all the kids and their families gathered at their perspective classrooms and processed through the neighborhood. All the kindergarteners led the way with their lit paper lanterns leading an amoebic horde of parents.  Eventually, the route of each class converged with the others and we all ended up in a courtyard in front of one of the school buildings.  It looked like a magical gathering of gnomes.
  The children sang a few songs, none of which we recognized or understood.  Jackson had told me all week how they sang songs in class, but he did not join in with the singing. He took that opportunity to blow his breath out in long streams, so he could watch it.  He did this with and in the face of one of the boys in his class.  I think both boys were having fun with this, it was definitely hilarious to watch.
    And then we had snacks.   It was very dark so I couldn't see what we were eating very well. One little treat tasted like a lemon flavored cake donut (the kind you buy in packs at gas stations). There was a gingerbread like cookie, a coffee flavored cake, and the kids' favorite (ok, mine too) a roll filled with nutella.  Kenny really enjoyed the rum flavored punch (nonalcoholic).
   When we got home, we made Jackson pose for a picture, so you can get the gist.

A couple of things that struck me about this event:  Four and Five year olds with swinging candles encased in paper- somewhat unsupervised. All went well, but I don't think this would have gone over in the states. At least not with the walking part.  Few cameras. PreK events that I have attended previously back home almost require sunglasses to protect from the camera flashes.
   It was a nice little outing. We saw stars!  I rarely go out at night, and we are in extra cloudy/foggy season so stars were a real treat.