The Feast of Lights

The Feast of Lights celebrates the end of the Christmas season.  This is St. Luke's sixth year of a tradition that many people in the parish recall from other churches.  For many centuries, the 12 days of Christmas originally were a continuous time of feasting, after the quiet anticipation of Advent.  When the 12 days were over, it was time to symbolically get rid of the decorations of the season, and prepare for the next one - Epiphany.  So "Twelfth Night" (January 5th) became the final revelry, combined with preparing for the service on the 6th.  It was like Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) before Ash Wednesday, but not qute as intense.  Even so, the Christmas tree and all the other "green" decorations, now getting quite dry and dangerous, were burned in a blazing bondfire.  The candles, cakes, and other treats that were still around were respectively burned and eaten. Last night all we burned were candles but we ate candies and food to make it fun.