St Martin

I will be honest, I have never heard of the story of St Martin until we moved here, much less knew he had a day dedicated to him in Germany.  St Martin was a knight in Roman times.  He was riding his horse when he saw a beggar on the side of the road.  The beggar was freezing cold, so St Martin cut his cloak in two and shared it with him.

Carolyn has German class every morning in school.  She really is picking up a lot from it and was very excited to participate in the lantern parade for St Martin's Day.  Our villages held a church service where they told the story of St. Martin.



In German of course, but we could kind of tell what was going on.  Sidney was more interested in playing with her lantern though.



My mom bought Payson this jacket for when she was born and she is just now fitting into it.  It works out though because now I don't have to buy one for this year.



After the service we all walked outside to follow St. Martin (the guy on the horse), for our lantern parade through  the town.



The girls loved it!  You know how you tell the difference between an American kid's lantern and a German kid's lantern?  The Germans go all out.  I wish I could have gotten pictures of some of the lanterns these kids or their parents made.  An American (or I guess I should say this American) just goes to the local store and purchases one.  The girls loved them none the less!