According to legend, on a cold day a beggar approached Martin and asked for help. Martin didn't have food or money so he cut his robe in half and gave part to the beggar. The next night, Jesus appeared to him in a dream revealed that he had been the beggar. After this, Martin dedicated his life to others.
In towns around Germany, children reenact the story of St Martin's life on November 11th. In Ramstein Village, the celebration started with a meeting at the Catholic Church,
then we followed a man on horseback (who was dressed like Saint Martin) around the town,
The children carried lanterns they had made in school.
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When we arrived back at the church, a bonfire was lit and we all ate pretzels!
To be honest, I don't quite get the significance of the pretzels, but I like any tradition that includes food (well, if it's chocolate, Starbucks or pretzels!)
3 comments:
Very cool. They just had a holiday here called "Bonfire Day, or Guy Faukes Day" I guess this guy had a plot to kill the king way back when, and it was foiled and since then there has been a bonfire where they burn an effigy of the guy. There were huge bonfires in like every village and N even learned about it in school! Hmmm, nothing says preschool appropriate like burning effigies!
Oh! I remember Guy Faukes Day! I think we may have had the day off when I was in college there.
Was "he" there?...you can delete my comment if you want. :o)
Looks like fun!
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