Sankt Martin

Or in English, Saint Martin. He was a soldier hundreds of years ago, that became a Bishop, and one day while riding his horse through the woods in the snow, a poor man with only a sack to wear came to him and asked him for food. Saint Martin, not only shared his bread with him, but also his cloak. Many hundreds of years later in Germany, schools and kindergartens remember him and his good deed.

This does not result in a day off (I know, shocking), but it does consist of some fun festivities, and a good lesson in sharing for the kids.

Sank Martin can be seen in different places in the city through the week, as he makes appearances at the schools and kindergartens, he came to our kids school and kindergarten yesterday.

The funnest part of the evening though, is the Lantern parade (Lanterne zug). The kids make lanterns with their classes and on the evening after Sankt Martin comes to the school, everyone in the neighborhood meets at the park with their lanterns hung on electric light sticks and we walk through the streets singing and following Sankt Martin on his horse. We end up, after a couple kilometers, back at the park where there is a reenactment of the good deed and then the kids all run into the middle of the field to get an apple.

But that is just the beginning, from there we go to the stores, where if you sing a Sank Martin song for them, you get some candy. We could also go door to door, but Karis isn't convinced that we really know what the people do, therefore we should not do it.

This is what we love; this holiday follows right on the heels of Halloween (which isn't celebrated here very much, no love lost by us), but the meaning behind going to ask for candy is that the people are sharing with you the same way Sankt Martin gave to the poor man. We have then added the question for our kids, 'Why did Sankt Martin share?' (Hint: the answer is because God loves the poor, the orphan and the widow and calls us who love Him, as we assume Sank Martin did, to also give to them!)

Its such a great alternative for us to Halloween.

God Bless, and when He does, remember to give it away! Let your light shine!