Annual Lantern Ceremony

Annual Lantern Ceremony

Eve of Patriots' Day (the third Monday in April)

The Annual Lantern Ceremony takes place every year on the eve of Patriots' Day, a public holiday observed in Massachusetts and Maine on the third Monday in April. Patriots' Day commemorates the American Revolutionary War battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The ceremony is held at the Old North Church in Boston (formal name: Christ Church in the City of Boston), which was built in 1723 and is the oldest standing church building in the city. It permanently entered the American history books on the evening of April 18, 1775. That night, the church sexton, Robert Newman, displayed two lanterns from the church steeple, signaling Paul Revere's fateful message that the British would come to Lexington and Concord "by sea" (i.e., across the Charles River), not by land.
The Annual Lantern Ceremony commemorates the lighting of the two lamps that launched a remarkable episode in U.S. history. The centerpiece of the ceremony each year is a keynote address by a notable leader of the Boston area or beyond. Notable past speakers have included President Gerald Ford, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, and journalist Nina Totenberg.

CONTACTS:
Old North Church
193 Salem St.
Boston, MA 02113
617-523-6676; fax: 617-725-0559