Undated: (Fanal, Cardboard Lanterns Made by Haitian Children at Christmas, Shaped Like Churches or Houses With Colored Paper Interiors That Glow Like Stained…

Undated: (Fanal, Cardboard Lanterns Made by Haitian Children at Christmas, Shaped Like Churches or Houses With Colored Paper Interiors That Glow Like Stained Glass When Lit by Candle, Often the Only Christmas Decoration in Poor Families): The fanal is a small, handmade lantern that Haitian children build at Christmas from cardboard and colored paper, shaped to look like a church or a house. When a candle is placed inside, the colored paper glows like stained glass, and the lantern becomes a tiny architecture of light. On Christmas Eve, children carry their fanals in procession through the streets, then bring them home and set them on a windowsill. For most poor families, this is the only Christmas decoration in the house. The fanal is one of those traditions that reveals something about how beauty persists under material scarcity: the materials cost almost nothing, the craft is passed from child to child, and the result is a symbol of hope made entirely by hand.