St. Martin's Day 2012

This year, we celebrated St. Martin’s Day with Leena’s Brownie Troop.  They are able to earn Brownie “Fun Patches” by participating in local German events.  This is a great opportunity for them to learn more about the German culture and earn patches that they will not be able to earn back in the States.  For this year's event, all the Brownie girls and their families met at their troop leader’s (Amy Lehman) house in Mühlhausen and participated in the St. Martin’s Day parade in that town.  Each German town has their own parade and subsequent celebration which varies slightly from town to town.  All the girls had made their own lanterns at the previous Brownie meeting.

Each year, the Germans honor St. Martin, one of their favorite saints.  It is said that one cold night, Saint Martin came across an old homeless man.  Saint Martin took off his cloak, ripped it in half, and gave it to the homeless man thus saving his life.  Leading the parade in Mühlhausen was none other than St. Martin himself riding a beautiful horse.  The parade that followed was made up of all the children and their families in the town.  The thing that I like the most about St. Martin’s Day is that the kids carry paper lanterns that they either made themselves or bought. Inside each lantern is a small candle.  So, each child is carrying a highly flammable paper lantern with a small fire inside.... at night. Only in Germany!  Fortunately, the local fire department also walks in the parade and it’s not uncommon to see these cute little lanterns that some child has spent time meticulously decorating, hit the pavement in flames.  I guess you have to learn some way! 

The girls get instruction from their leader on "how not to catch your lantern on fire" before the parade.

Leena and some of her troop members wait for the parade to start.

Leena and Taryn show off their lanterns.

"St. Martin" leads the parade.

Leena, Taryn and their friend, Makenzie, walking during the parade.

At the end of the parade, the town gathered and ate bread that was shaped St. Martin.  On our way home, we stopped at a neighborhood pizzeria.  One of the things that I love about these little family run restaurants is that it's not uncommon for the cook to invite the kids to help them prepare the meal in the kitchen.  This is the second time our girls have been invited into the kitchen to cook (at two different restaurants).  As you can imagine, our girls LOVE this despite the language barrier. 

While Taryn was watching the cook prepare our pizzas, the cook asked Taryn if she would like to help.  Here is Taryn putting on the cheese.  No common language was necessary.  Gotta love these places!  No hair nets or hand washing required!!