Today we celebrated St. Martin's Day. I had never heard of it before I got here, but the kids have been preparing for it at school since early October. It's a celebration of St. Martin, who was a Roman soldier in the 4th century until he was baptized and declared a bishop. According to the story, St. Martin came across an almost naked beggar at the gates of the city of Amiens, France during a snow storm. He cut his military cloak in half and gave one piece to the beggar to keep him warm, and his cloak helped keep the man alive when he otherwise would've frozen to death in the snow. It is said that St. Martin had a dream that night that Jesus was wearing the other half of his cloak, and at this time he made the decision to be baptized. To celebrate this good deed (as well as the man responsible) it is customary for children to parade through the streets at night, often led by a man on a horse dressed as a Roman soldier, carrying lanterns and singing songs about St. Martin. They also go door-to-door singing songs, and they are given candy both as a sign of appreciation for their song and as a symbolic gift from St. Martin.

At Gustav's Kindergarten they had a small celebration this morning. All of the parents were invited to come and sing St. Martin songs with the kids, and then take home the lanterns that their children had created. I went with Esther to that this morning. They also had a little feast ("St. Martins Fruehstuck") in their classrooms. This evening we all went back to the Kindergarten to have the procession so the kids could carry thier lanterns through the streets. St. Martin led the way on horseback, and we walked around the block singing songs. It was kinda cool because people actually opened their doors to come out and watch the kids, and the cars that were stopped on the streets opened their windows to hear the songs. Once we had gone around the block and back to our starting point, there was a huge bonfire and Gluehwein. Also, the man portraying St. Martin went around to where each of the classes from Kindergarten was gathered and gave each child a Weckmann (basically a pretzel shaped like a man), again to demonstrate his generosity. Then everyone just chatted, drinking their wine and tea, until it was time to take the kids home for dinner. It was pretty fun.