Wish Boats

As I mentioned in the previous entry, the last week of the summer season is always a special one here at camp, and we often look to commemorate it while not deviating too far from our tried and true summer camp week. How best say bon voyage to a great summer? By sending off and setting sail, of course.

Hence our End of Summer Wish Boats. Originally, they were Beginning of Summer Wish Boats (for a 4th of July when we needed an alternative to fireworks as we reside in a state forest), but they have become a last session tradition. We lose about a full hour of daylight from the beginning of summer to the end, and while 8:30 was plenty bright at the end of June, by the time we get to mid-August the sun has set, and Lake Shawanni is nothing but reflected blue sky and shadows.

A note: I think some of the below pictures are fantastic. I don't know if that's because I was there in person and I'm simply recalling how astonishing it was in real life. Perhaps to some of you they'll just look like a lot of darkness and a few points of light, but if you were there, you'll remember how it looked. And how you felt.

The decorating of the boats.

Simply a carved wooden block with a wish written.

A plain birthday candle is placed in the middle.

And then they are ready to set sail.

As the whole camp sits on the shore and watches their tiny personal campfires float out on the darkened lake, the impossible happens. The impossible at summer camp, anyway. They all grow silent. Every camper and counselor quietly watches the flames dance and flicker and extinguish without a sound, until the lake is dark yet again, and we tell all the cabins goodnight.

Goodnight. Because around these parts, we say goodnight and not goodbye.