illuminated procession

Torchlight processions were known already in Ancient Greece where it was connected with Ancient Greek religion. Until today they are part modern adaptations of Dionysia festival in Greece and elsewhere.{{cite web |title=The Ancient Festivals Of Dionysus In Athens: 'Euhoi Bacchoi' |url=https://www.thecollector.com/festival-of-dionysus/ |website=TheCollector |language=en |date=25 February 2021}}

Before the American Civil War in the U.S., illuminated processions were held to promote political parties. That includes mass torch light processions in 1858 at Hartford Connecticut, the Republican Party in New York City in 1860[https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-wide-awakes.htm The Wide Awakes] National Park ServicePlank, Thomas (2016) [https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/they-marched-torches-getting-out-vote-1840-1900 They marched with torches: Getting out the vote, 1840–1900] Smithsonian Institution and in Galesburg, Illinois in 1884.{{cite web |title=Poet Carl Sandburg interview (1956) |url=https://www.artvilla.com/poet-videos-1/av-vGfQS1yNhaQ.html |website=artvilla.com}}

File:Snow shoe tramping Mount Royal 1873.jpg

Snowshoe tramps by torchlight have been held in Montreal since 1873.[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85033255/1873-02-28/ed-1/seq-6/ A Curious Scene] Wisconsin: River Falls Journal 1873-Feb-28 p6 Processions of skiers holding torches or flares while skiing down a slope at night has been a scheduled event of winter festivals since at least 1903.[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88076741/1903-03-13/ed-1/seq-7/ End of Sports] N.D. Pioneer Express, 1903-03-13

File:YOU WILL NOT REPLACE US (-Charlottesville -UniteTheRight).webm

The Far-right and Nationalist groups have had a long history of torchlight marches.{{cite web | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/why-they-parade-by-torchlight/537459/ | title=Why They Parade by Torchlight | website=The Atlantic | date=21 August 2017 }}

During the 1930s Nazi Germany in some of its Nuremberg rallies used torchlight marches.

On 1 January 2014, Stepan Bandera's 105th birthday was celebrated by a torchlight procession of 15,000 people in the centre of Kyiv and thousands more rallied near his statue in Lviv.{{cite web |url=http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/regional_news/europe/nationalists-march-in-ukraine-s-kiev/article_c2c05de8-c3ab-5fdd-a475-d01beb7f5448.html |title=15,000 nationalists march in Kiev |language=en |access-date=2 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140102201229/http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/regional_news/europe/nationalists-march-in-ukraine-s-kiev/article_c2c05de8-c3ab-5fdd-a475-d01beb7f5448.html |archive-date=2 January 2014 }}[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/184697.html Torchlight procession to honor Bandera taking place in Kyiv], Interfax-Ukraine (1 January 2014)[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/184696.html Lviv hosts rally to mark 105th anniversary of Ukrainian nationalist leader Bandera], Interfax-Ukraine (1 January 2014) The march was supported by the far-right Svoboda party and some members of the center-right Batkivshchyna.{{cite web |date=3 January 2014 |title=MP: Euromaidan exposed to neo-Nazi trends |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/mp-euromaidan-exposed-to-neo-nazi-trends-334612.html |access-date= |website=Kyiv Post}}

In 2017, During the Unite the Right rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. a group of white nationalists{{snd}}variously numbered from "dozens"{{Cite news|first=Jessica |last=Chia |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/white-nationalists-march-uva-torches-article-1.3404681|title=White nationalists march through UVA with torches |work=Daily News |location=New York|date=August 12, 2017|access-date=August 14, 2017|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812133546/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/white-nationalists-march-uva-torches-article-1.3404681|archive-date=August 12, 2017}} to "about 250"{{cite news |first=Joe |last=Heim |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/local/charlottesville-timeline/ |title=Recounting a Day of Rage, Hate, Violence and Death |date=August 14, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post }}{{snd}}gathered for an unannounced (and unsanctioned by the city) march through the University of Virginia's campus. They marched towards the university's Lawn chanting Nazi and white supremacist slogans, including "White lives matter"; "You will not replace us"; and "Jews will not replace us".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/us/charlottesville-protest-white-nationalist.html|title=Man Charged After White Nationalist Rally in Charlottesville Ends in Deadly Violence|last1=Stolberg|first1=Sheryl Gay|date=August 12, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=August 13, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812215453/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/us/charlottesville-protest-white-nationalist.html|archive-date=August 12, 2017|last2=Rosenthal|first2=Brian M.|author-link=Sheryl Gay Stolberg|url-access=limited}}{{cite news |first=Matt |last=Pearce |date=August 11, 2017 |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-white-virginia-rally-20170811-story.html |url-status=live |title=Chanting 'blood and soil!' white nationalists with torches march on University of Virginia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812100509/http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-white-virginia-rally-20170811-story.html|archive-date=August 12, 2017 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times }} (The phrase "You will not replace us" has been reported by the Anti-Defamation League to "reflect the white supremacist world view that ... the white race is doomed to extinction by an alleged 'rising tide of color' purportedly controlled and manipulated by Jews".{{cite news|url=https://www.adl.org/blog/white-supremacists-adopt-new-slogan-you-will-not-replace-us|title=White Supremacists Adopt New Slogan: "You Will Not Replace Us"|publisher=Anti-Defamation League|date=June 9, 2017|access-date=August 14, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814100052/https://www.adl.org/blog/white-supremacists-adopt-new-slogan-you-will-not-replace-us|archive-date=August 14, 2017}}) The Nazi slogan "Blood and Soil" was also used.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fights-in-advance-of-saturday-protest-in-charlottesville/2017/08/12/155fb636-7f13-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html|title=One dead as car strikes crowds amid protests of white nationalist gathering in Charlottesville; two police die in helicopter crash|last1=Heim|first1=Joe|date=August 13, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170813080821/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fights-in-advance-of-saturday-protest-in-charlottesville/2017/08/12/155fb636-7f13-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html|archive-date=August 13, 2017|last2=Silverman|first2=Ellie|last3=Shapiro|first3=T. Rees|last4=Brown|first4=Emma|url-access=limited}}{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/8/12/16138244/charlottesville-protests-photos|title=The most striking photos from the white supremacist Charlottesville protests|first=German|last=Lopez|publisher=Vox|date=August 12, 2017|access-date=August 12, 2017|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813050613/https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/8/12/16138244/charlottesville-protests-photos|archive-date=August 13, 2017}} The group was primarily composed of white men, many of them wielding tiki torches.{{cite news |first1=Alexis |last1=Gravely |first2=Daniel |last2=Hoerauf |first3=Tim |last3=Dodson|url=https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/08/torch-wielding-white-nationalists-march-at-uva |title=Torch-wielding white nationalists march at U.Va.: Protest comes to an end after fights, pepper-spray |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813110208/http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/08/torch-wielding-white-nationalists-march-at-uva |archive-date=August 13, 2017 |url-status=live |work=Cavalier Daily |date=August 12, 2017}}

In Estonia Conservative People's Party of Estonia The party's affiliated nationalist youth movement Blue Awakening is the main organizer of the annual torchlight march through Tallinn on 24 February, Independence Day of Estonia. The first Independence Day torchlight march was held in 2014. According to Blue Awakening, the torchlight march is meant to honor those who have fallen for the nation of Estonia and to signify that Estonian youth have not abandoned the nationalist principles.[http://www.ekre.ee/muljeid-torvikurongkaigust/ EKRE: Muljeid tõrvikurongkäigust] {{in lang|et}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pealinn.ee/koik-uudised/fotod-vabariigi-aastapaeva-tahistati-vaatemangulise-n163616|title=FOTOD! Vabariigi aastapäeva tähistati vaatemängulise|website=www.pealinn.ee|date=24 February 2016|access-date=30 November 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eesti.ca/eesti-vabariigi-aastapaeva-tahistamine-tallinnas/article41545|title=Eesti Vabariigi aastapäeva tähistamine Tallinnas. |website= {{ill|Estonian World Review|et}}|access-date=30 November 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.ee/openarticle.php?id=2342084&lang=est|title=Vabariigi aastapäeval toimub Tallinnas järjekordne tõrvikurongkäik (Objektiiv.ee (SAPTK))|date=23 February 2016|access-date=30 November 2017}}

{{Cite web |url=http://uueduudised.ee/tv3-video-mida-arvasid-torvikurongkaigust-sellel-osalenud-inimesed/ |title=TV3 VIDEO: Mida arvavad tõrvikurongkäigust sellel osalenud inimesed? |access-date=1 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002104122/http://uueduudised.ee/tv3-video-mida-arvasid-torvikurongkaigust-sellel-osalenud-inimesed/ |archive-date=2 October 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} The event has been harshly criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that described it as "Nuremberg-esque" and likened the ideology of the participants to that of the Estonian nazi collaborators.{{cite web|url=http://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/wiesenthal-center-criticizes-6.html|title=Wiesenthal Center Criticizes Extreme Right March to Mark Estonian Independence Day|publisher=Simon Wiesenthal Center|date=5 October 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nazi-hunter-even-putin-would-condemn-nuremberg-esque-parades-estonia-1490259|title=Nazi Hunter: Nuremberg-esque march no way to celebrate Estonian independence|work=International Business Times|date=5 October 2020}}

File:Смолоскипний марш у Києві (6).jpg|2014

File:Tõrvikurongkäik 2018.jpg|2018

• Candlelight vigil

{{reflist}}

Category:Parades

Category:Street culture

Category:Lantern shows

Category:Christian processions