Welston’s All Hallows Eve: A Sea of (Non-plastic) Lanterns

You’ll know it’s All Hallows’ Eve when Sea View Road smells faintly of beeswax candles.

For the past week, I’ve watched families, shopkeepers, and the residents of the Cosy Days hauling lantern frames of all shapes and sizes down to The Station, where volunteers hand out tissue paper in shades of pumpkin, plum and pear. Children glue stars and moons onto theirs; pensioners opt for saints, angels, or, more often, their grandchildren’s initials.

Come dusk on the 31st, the whole road flickers with colour. At one end, Reverend Trisha Haley of Saint Crispin’s blesses the candles (the church still insists on that part), while further along members of the Lanston Coven waft burning bundles of rosemary, bay, and sage for anyone who wants their lantern “warded” against bad luck. A few parishioners still mutter about mixing witches with worship, but most people accept both blessings. This is Welston, after all, where hedging your bets is nigh-on a civic duty.

The procession congregates in the market square and winds its way past the pier, lanterns bobbing like a sea of stars. Cats, dogs and the occasional fox (familiars?) trot alongside, while the church choir alternates between For All the Saints andthe Soul Cake Song.

Before the halfway mark, at least one papier mâché lantern catches fire. No one minds. The sight of neighbours—Christians, coven members, sceptics, and schoolchildren—all walking together under the same blaze of light, is enough to make you believe the town still knows how to honour both the living and the dead.

So, if you think your town knows how to celebrate Halloween, I’d suggest you try ours. Preparations are well underway again this year. I’m told there’s a cardboard and paste kraken the size of a small hatchback. All are welcome to join us in the market square at 8pm. Just don’t bring a plastic lantern, otherwise you’ll never hear the end of it!