This weekend celebrates the Sweeps Festival. May 1st through 3rd marks the annual tradition of honouring chimney sweeps in the country. The celebration starts on May 1st, May Day, when Jack in the Hill is awakened from his sleep at Bluebell Hill to go to Rochester. This seven foot character will revel throughout the weekend at various locations throughout the day and evening. This is the largest gathering of Morris dancers in the country and thousands of people show up to this free event in order to celebrate the tradition of the chimney sweep. There will be dancing, drinking, revelling and yes, sky lanterns to mark the occasion.

If you plan on attending this famous gathering of revellers to celebrate the chimney sweep, make sure you have your supply of sky lanterns at the ready.  It is always a good idea to keep several different sized and coloured sky lanterns stored for any occasion. Of course, you can always plan ahead for a specific get together but if you have several traditional sky lanterns such as the ones found at http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/sky-lanterns/white-traditional-sky-lanterns/prod_8.html you can be sure you are always ready when something comes up. You can even store the coloured sky lanterns such as the lot of six multi coloured ones found at http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/sky-lanterns/coloured-traditional-sky-lanterns/prod_9.html.

If you already have some sky lanterns available, gather a few and get on the road to Rochester to join the thousands of people throughout the UK coming to celebrate the Sweeps Festival. In the evening while celebrating with others you can launch the lanterns into the sky and watch them float and emit a warm, soft glow. Simply remove the individually packaged lanterns out of their wrapping. Attach the fuel cell per the enclosed instructions and light it. When it is lit you can release the lantern and watch it float up in the air. You can even customize it by using a sharpie marker and writing personalized messages, well wishes or prayers.

Prior to launching them, make sure you have ideal conditions to launch them so you remain safe. Launch the sky lanterns in a clearing or field that is free from obstruction. Make sure it is not excessively windy and make sure there is no inclement weather. If you adhere to some simple precautions you can launch them safely and have a lot of fun. If there is a group of people who all have sky lanterns, have everyone launch them one at a time right after the other. You will have a sky that is littered with lights for a fun, festive spirit.

You can also rest assured that the sky lanterns are good for the environment because they are biodegradable and flame retardant. You will not contribute to waste by launching them. The sweep festival is the perfect time to honour the chimney sweeps by launching sky lanterns. You can create a new tradition in the evening when you set them into the air. The rising sky lanterns can be a symbol for the rising smoke emitted from the chimney .

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 7:36 AM and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.