Neighborhood luminaria light the holidays
Plymouth Meeting project gives back to those in need
PLYMOUTH MEETING » These days, numerous suburban communities sponsor residential light contests during the winter holidays, and entertainment venues ranging from Elmwood Park Zoo to Longwood Gardens mark the season with thousands of glittering bulbs.
But the simple luminarias that ribbon neighborhoods surrounding Plymouth Meeting’s Sheffield Drive on Christmas Eve form one of the area’s oldest winter light shows. Township residents anchor candles in paper bags weighted down with sand or pebbles throughout the day. Lined up curbside and lit at dusk, the pedestrian votives turn magical as block after block glows with reflected orange and blue flame.
Building bonfires and lighting candles to mark winter solstice and lengthening daylight were traditions way before Christianity and Christmas. Solstice was synonymous with the sun’s “rebirth,” and celebratory fires by ancient Norsemen, Celts, Romans and Egyptians symbolized the light and warmth crucial for survival. Centuries later, Spanish bonfires in Europe guided the faithful to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. The country’s missionaries introduced the custom to indigenous Mexicans, who lined walls and walkways with luminarias called farolitos. The practice spread to the American Southwest and became a holiday staple there before migrating beyond.
Although the quote’s origins are disputed, wartime First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
famously observed “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” And during battles of a far
different sort, reality show host Jeff Probst repeatedly tells “Survivor” contestants “…fire represents your life.
When your fire’s gone, so are you.”
Gerry and Dutch Wernert saw fire as a vehicle for “helping others” when they started Plymouth Meeting’s Christmas luminaria tradition roughly 40 years ago.
The two have overseen the project ever since but maintain it would be impossible without the block captains who take orders and distribute candles within their own neighborhoods. A dozen currently cost $9, and all proceeds beyond cost go to area charities and nonprofit community groups. As planned, the Patrician Society and a neighboring homeless shelter-soup kitchen in the heart of downtown Norristown, the Coatesville VA (Veterans Affairs) Medical Center and Make a Wish Foundation will be among this year’s beneficiaries.
“With the pandemic, people still wanted to do something that was normal, and this is something that’s stable…familiar when the pandemic has caused so much disruption in people’s lives,” Gerry says. “I think candles are also something that’s comforting to a lot of people. And it’s not just the adults. The kids look forward to it, too…filling the bags with sand, lining them up outside. Maybe taking a walk to look at the candles after dark. They’ve grown up doing it, so it becomes an important part of their Christmas tradition…an important part of Christmas for a lot of people of all ages.”
Neither the Wernerts nor the project’s block captains get paid for organizing the yearly luminaria, but they say knowing their efforts help make life better for less fortunate adults and children is “far more valuable than money.”
“We just love doing it… knowing that it brings pleasure to people at the same time that it does so much good,” Gerry says. “We believe in it, all of us do … in the good it does, so we just follow our hearts and do it. There are a lot of people hurting out there, so if we can help in some small way, we believe that we should.”