This school year, the school was already beautifully decorated the afternoon before the Lantern Festival. When the schoolyard was lovingly decorated with numerous fairy lights on 12.11.2024, the children's anticipation of the upcoming festival could be clearly felt everywhere.
The weather also played along and so even more families celebrated this special event with us this year. The children of the Lindenkinderchor choir under the direction of Ms. Guth-Albermann sang the song "Der Mann im Mond" (The Man in the Moon) as a welcome and received a lot of applause. After the school community had joined in with "Come on, we want to walk with lanterns!", the procession of lights set off accompanied by the Gronau police. So many families had come with their children that, as every year, there was a long queue of people moving along Gildehauser Straße towards the town center.
The first stop was once again at the Caritas senior citizens' home City-Wohnpark on Neustraße. The children with their beautifully decorated lanterns were already eagerly awaited there. Many residents of the retirement home waved warmly to welcome us, listened to the traditional Martinmas songs and some of them certainly sang along themselves.
This visit is also a very special experience for the children and adults at the Lindenschule. The joy of the elderly people is visible and tangible for everyone involved, right down to the street. It is not only the children who experience in this situation that giving pleasure and doing good does not have to cost a lot of money. When we make someone happy, we not only bring a smile to the other person's face, but also to our own. We talked about this a lot that evening.
The lantern procession continued lively to St. Anthony's Church, across the Laga grounds and back to the Lindenschule. Thanks to the musical accompaniment of Mr. Koch, Mr. Beier and Mrs. Guth-Albermann, we once again had our own little "band" with us. The well-known autumn and lantern songs rang out at the various assembly points and many a Gronau resident joined the cheerful community for a while.
The school community returned to the schoolyard shortly after 6 pm. They sang together at the cozy fireplace and enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere of the evening with warm drinks and hot sausages.
Many thanks to everyone who makes this lantern festival possible! Special thanks go to the Lindenschule support association and the Gronau police, who ensure that we get through the traffic safely and support us so reliably!
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