Tradition of

luminarias

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- On two nights each year -- Christmas Eve and Christmas Day -- the grounds of the August Schell brewery are lighted by luminarias, candles in sand-filled, paper bags.

The walkway to the house, which Schell built and lived in, is outlined, as are the roadway through the brewery grounds and the little paths through the garden.

Continuing a tradition of 42 years, Ted and Jodi Marti and others were out after dark both nights this year, lighting nearly 400 candles.

"It's somewhere between 300 and 400 candles, probably closer to 400 that we put out each year," Marti, president of Schell's Brewery, said, as he and about a half dozen others finished lighting the candles Wednesday night.

"This was started by my grandfather, Al Marti, back in 1960. He saw the luminarias when he was in El Paso, Texas, visiting his sister. He liked them and brought the idea back here," Marti explained.

Over the years there has been little change to the ritual.

"About the only change over the years has been in the bags we use. We started out using different colored bags -- green, red and even white bags. However, after a while we couldn't get colored bags, so now we just use the brown bags," he said.

The driving force for continuing to do it each year is, according to Marti, "tradition, and the fact that people enjoy it."

People have asked Marti to put the luminarias out the entire month of December, but he said he has no plans to do that.

It's a time-consuming task.

The Martis and their helpers set out and light the candles after dark, and then they return at midnight to douse the candles. Then, they repeat the procedure the following night.