Please join us with children and family to celebrate
St Martin's Day
Light Parade, Waffles, Hot Chocolate, "Glühwein", Bonfire, and Music...for an unforgettable family evening !

click here for the invitation

ST MARTIN'S LEGEND

St. Martin's Day (or Martinmas) is November 11, the feast day of Martin of Tours, who started out as a Roman soldier. He was baptized when he was grown up and became a monk. It is understood that he was a kind man who lead a quiet and simple life. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold.

The day is celebrated on the evening of November 11th in parts of Flanders and some parts of the Netherlands and most areas of Germany and Austria. Children go from door to door with paper lanterns and candles, and sing songs about St. Martin and about their lantern in return for a treat, very similar to the American tradition of Halloween. Often, a man dressed as St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession.

In recent years, the lantern processions have become widespread even in Protestant areas of Germany and the Netherlands, despite the fact that most Protestant churches do not recognize saints as a distinct class of believers from the laity.