Illuminated procession

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File:Lantern-Parade-10.jpg
La Fête dé Noué in Jersey.

An illuminated procession is a procession held after dark so that lights carried by the participants form a spectacle. The lights will commonly be of the same type, so making a candlelight procession, lantern parade or torchlight march.[1] Examples include the Christmas festival of Ndocciata in Italy; the Chinese Lantern Festival to celebrate the first full moon; and the daily procession of pilgrims to the grotto of Lourdes.

History

Torchlight processions were known already in Ancient Greece where it was connected with Ancient Greek religion. Until today they are part modern adaptations of Dionysia festival in Greece and elsewhere.[2]

Torchlight marches in politics

Before the American Civil War in the U.S., illuminated processions were held to promote political parties. That includes mass torch light processions in 1858 at Hartford Connecticut, the Republican Party in New York City in 1860[3][4] and in Galesburg, Illinois in 1884.[5]

Ski parade

Processions of skiers holding torches or flares while skiing down a slope at night has been a scheduled event of winter festivals since at least 1903.[6]

Marches by Far-right

File:YOU WILL NOT REPLACE US (-Charlottesville -UniteTheRight).webm
Video recorded by white nationalist marchers on August 11

The Far-right and Nationalist groups have had a long history of torchlight marches.[7] During the 1930s Nazi Germany in some of its Nuremberg rallies used torchlight marches. On 1 January 2014, Stepan Bandera's 105th birthday was celebrated by a torchlight procession of 15,000 people in the centre of Kyiv and thousands more rallied near his statue in Lviv.[8][9][10] The march was supported by the far-right Svoboda party and some members of the center-right Batkivshchyna.[11] In Estonia Conservative People's Party of Estonia The party's affiliated nationalist youth movement Blue Awakening is the main organizer of the annual torchlight march through Tallinn on 24 February, Independence Day of Estonia. The first Independence Day torchlight march was held in 2014. According to Blue Awakening, the torchlight march is meant to honor those who have fallen for the nation of Estonia and to signify that Estonian youth have not abandoned the nationalist principles.[12][13][14][15][16] The event has been harshly criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that described it as "Nuremberg-esque" and likened the ideology of the participants to that of the Estonian nazi collaborators.[17][18]

See also

References

  1. Beverly N. White. "Torch Light". Amazon. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  2. "The Ancient Festivals Of Dionysus In Athens: 'Euhoi Bacchoi'". TheCollector. 25 February 2021.
  3. The Wide Awakes National Park Service
  4. Plank, Thomas (2016) They marched with torches: Getting out the vote, 1840–1900 Smithsonian Institution
  5. "Poet Carl Sandburg interview (1956)". artvilla.com.
  6. End of Sports N.D. Pioneer Express, 1903-03-13
  7. "Why They Parade by Torchlight". The Atlantic. 21 August 2017.
  8. "15,000 nationalists march in Kiev". Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  9. Torchlight procession to honor Bandera taking place in Kyiv, Interfax-Ukraine (1 January 2014)
  10. Lviv hosts rally to mark 105th anniversary of Ukrainian nationalist leader Bandera, Interfax-Ukraine (1 January 2014)
  11. "MP: Euromaidan exposed to neo-Nazi trends". Kyiv Post. 3 January 2014.
  12. EKRE: Muljeid tõrvikurongkäigust (in Estonian)
  13. "FOTOD! Vabariigi aastapäeva tähistati vaatemängulise". www.pealinn.ee. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  14. "Eesti Vabariigi aastapäeva tähistamine Tallinnas". Estonian World Review [et]. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  15. "Vabariigi aastapäeval toimub Tallinnas järjekordne tõrvikurongkäik (Objektiiv.ee (SAPTK))". 23 February 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  16. "TV3 VIDEO: Mida arvavad tõrvikurongkäigust sellel osalenud inimesed?". Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  17. "Wiesenthal Center Criticizes Extreme Right March to Mark Estonian Independence Day". Simon Wiesenthal Center. 5 October 2020.
  18. "Nazi Hunter: Nuremberg-esque march no way to celebrate Estonian independence". International Business Times. 5 October 2020.