It is Germany's children who bring lightness and music to
early winter evenings when darkness is highlighted only by street lights, or stars on cloudless nights, because November 11th is Sankt Martinstag, St. Martin's Day.Walking in procession, usually behind St. Martin in his Roman soldier's uniform and riding 'Shimmel' a white horse, they carry illuminated and often self-made lanterns while singing the traditional songs that celebrate the life of Martin of Tours, and the one that is to be heard most often is the one you can hear here:
Ich Geh' Mit Meiner Laterne
Ich geh' mit meiner Laterne
Und meine Laterne mit mir.
I'm walking with my lantern
and my lantern walks with me.
But who was St. Martin? Born around 316 AD, the son of a Tribune in a Roman army unit in what is now Hungary, he had to join the Roman army when he was 15. Legend has it that three years later, as he rode through the gates of Amiens in a snow storm, he saw a starving beggar with little to protect him from the icy temperature, so taking his sword Martin cut his cloak in two and gave one half to the freezing man.
As he slept that night St. Martin had a dream in which
Christ appeared to him as the beggar, saying to the angels around him, Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized, he has clothed me.
Not long after his dream Martin decided that a soldier's life of fighting and killing was not one he wanted to follow, he became a baptised Christian and successful missionary. A much loved and exemplary man who until his death from old age in November 397 AD led a simple, compassionate life despite, against his wishes, having been made the Bishop of Tours in Gaul, present day France.
The remains of St. Martin's cloak, in Latin 'cappa', was kept as a sacred relic in a building called a 'cappella', which is the origin of our present day words chaplain and chapel, and another of the many legends that surround his life says it was the cries of geese, in the barn where he was hiding from those who wanted him to accept the Tours bishopric, which led to his being found.
Unlike the saints before him St. Martin was not a martyr, and over the years he has become the patron saint of quite a mixture including France, beggars, soldiers, innkeepers, alcoholics, winegrowers, tailors, equestrians, animals, and those geese.
The first goose of the season, a St. Martin's goose or Martinsgans, has for centuries been the day's traditional meal, however that was because the geese were ready for harvesting, their feathers useful for winter pillows and bed covers, and the fat suitable for everything from soothing seasonal chilblains and sore throats to cooking. Not because of any vendetta St. Martin had against the cackling geese who had supposedly given away his hiding place.
Despite most Protestant churches not recognising saints, St. Martin's colourful lantern procession tradition has been widespread throughout Protestant areas of Germany for generations, with most processions ending alongside a large bonfire with lanterns that probably no longer glow, unless they are battery powered or have been fed with a steady supply of tea lights or candles, but nevertheless with songs still ringing out through the air.
And there a St. Martin Weckmann, a sweet yeast dough 'breadman' with raisin eyes and a clay pipe, together with an inviting cup of hot chocolate, or some heated mulled wine for the grownups, are waiting to warm up a cool November night. Some children will go around later in small groups, singing from door to door to be rewarded for the originality and beauty of their lanterns, as well as their singing, with fruit, nuts and candy amongst other treats.
Beginning in France the St. Martin's Day tradition spread across Europe where, as the Christian Church set Christian holidays and celebrations at the same time as former pagan festivities, it took the place of the pagan early winter light and fertility festivities.
However St. Martin did die on the 8th November and was buried on the 11th. The date when Martinmas, the celebration of his life, begins at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 11:11 at 11:11 am, when many people attend the church services held in his honour.
It is just one of Germany's customs and traditions which take place that day, as at exactly the same time the preparations for the next year's Karnaval, Fasching or Fastnacht,, the name depending on the region, officially begin. For the rest of Europe it marks Armistice or Remembrance Day, with a two-minute silence in memory of those who died fighting wars and commemorating the precise moment the first world war's cease fire took effect, while in the USA it is Veterans Day.
A St. Martin's Day tradition with less devotees than formerly is the strict advent fast which used to
start the next day, making it the last chance to have a feast for the forty days until Christmas.However for generations of happy children with their lanterns St. Martin's Day, and the 11th November, is just the culmination of weeks of excited anticipation, and an enjoyable seasonal celebration to brighten those first winter days.
El Greco oil on linen painting of Saint Martin and the Beggar, currently in National Gallery of German Art, Washington DC, St. Martin Procession Bonfire, photo Die Zuckerschnute, 1948 photo of children with St. Martin's lamps, Budesarchiv, all courtesy de.Wikipedia, Ich Geh' Mit Meiner Laterne produced by ARD Fernsehen
This is a super CD of children singing all the traditional St. Martin's Day songs, including Ich geh' mit meiner Laterne, and it is easily ordered from Amazon Germany |
Here you can find a genuine St. Martins lamp that is totally safe, and imported from Germany. With a 12” long battery powered lampion rod it has the most popular German motif, moon and stars
And here is a selection of St. Martin's Day lanterns and accessories.
