Lighting the way to peace and understanding

Christmas Eve luminaria on Main Street. Mirror file photo.

by Marsha Chartrand

A small white bag, weighed down with a bit of sand and a votive candle burning inside offers each family in Manchester the opportunity to light the way for the Christ child to enter on Christmas Eve. A simple notion? Maybe, and maybe not.

It was actually in 1977 that Karen Hinkley, along with a few friends, envisioned bringing this lovely sight to Manchester. Karen and her husband, John, had moved to their home on Ann Arbor Hill in 1976, and she thought this could draw attention and become a great tradition for the village if the street was illuminated on Christmas Eve.

So while Hinkley started out small, trudging up and down Ann Arbor Hill to “sell” her idea that first year was a bit more complicated than she had anticipated. People often didn’t understand what the concept was all about. They’d never heard the word luminaria before. They had not traveled in the southwest, where the idea originated, and never seen an actual display, or even a picture. And there wasn’t even an internet to be able to look it up. Karen was undaunted.

“I knocked on everyone’s door, introduced myself, and explained what I hoped to do, and why,” Karen related to me several years ago. “Seriously, there were many who could not visualize this at all. I’m sure some people thought I was crazy — and a few told me so outright!”

It didn’t matter, though; because, she said, she knew how beautiful it was going to be.

“I tangled a bit with one woman and I finally begged her, ‘If I pay for it and do it in front of your house, would you let me, so the whole street will be lit?’ She finally agreed!” (And, Karen said, she loved it afterward!)

John and Karen mostly filled and distributed the bags that first year, putting them together in their basement and digging the sand in our old trailer at the Road Commission yard. Karen believed that if the lights were lit all the way up both sides of Ann Arbor Hill, people would get the picture and it would catch on.

Well — catch on it did! For the next five years, Karen asked anyone and everyone she knew how they might be willing to help. Members of the newly formed Manchester Art Guild stepped up to the plate to help her, calling on one person per street to call their neighbors and remind them prior to Christmas Eve.

“Then,” she explained, “by the sixth year I was pregnant with our oldest daughter and the luminaria had grown so much, I decided to find a group that might like to take it over.”

So in 1982 the Historical Society started managing the luminaria, and in 2008, the Manchester Lions Club took over the distribution process; first at the Blacksmith Shop and now at the Kingsley-Jenter House on Main Street.

Barry Allen, representing the Lions Club, says that in 2008 when the Lions took over the project, luminaria sales were at an all-time low, due to waning interest and also from inclement weather. “We want to get more families to participate, so we’ve kept the cost low ($5 per kit),” he said. “Please support these long-time traditions to have them here for our children to enjoy for the future!”

This year’s Christmas Eve luminaria will take place at dusk on Tuesday night, December 24, during which time the residents of Manchester will place their luminaria along their walkways as a symbol of holiday peace.

“The luminaria is a beautiful presentation along the streets of Manchester, which fits nicely with the Lions’ mission of prevention of blindness and preservation of sight,” said Allen. “What better way to demonstrate the gift of sight?”

The Lions will be selling the kits with drive-through service from the garage of the Manchester Area Historical Society building, the Kingsley-Jenter House, on the corner of Main Street and M-52, starting on Saturday, December 21, from noon to 4pm, and continuing on Monday, December 23 from 10am to 4pm, and Tuesday, Christmas Eve, from 10am to 4pm. A kit of 10 candles, sand, and bags costs only $5. The price has remained the same for over 10 years and most homes can use the 10-set kit. The luminaria project is a public service to the community, but due to rising costs, last year’s expenses were only offset by the extra donations provided by you. The Manchester Lions Club sincerely thanks Manchester Aggregate (sand), the Manchester Area Historical Society, the City of Manchester, community merchants, and individual donors for making this event possible.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.