Benjamin's Kindergarten Saint Martin Lantern Walk

We are having so much fun learning about German holidays. I think this is my favorite yet... Saint Martin's Day - November 11th. 

Saint Martin was a soldier who was out riding his horse through the woods on a cold winter's night when he came upon a poor man who was very very cold. Saint Martin was a good man, and he loved God and as a result, his fellow man. So he took off his cloak and cut it in half with his sword giving half of it to the beggar. He later changed career fields and committed himself fully to God's work. 

Every year on the 11th of November the German children make lanterns, light them and walk through the town singing songs about Saint Martin. Our village has two lantern walks. One just for the kindergarten kids and another for the whole village. The kindergarten one is smaller, but entirely for the kids with lots of sweets and their sweet songs. The big village one has a band, a reenactment of the event with a real horse, a big bonfire done by the village firehouse, warm drinks and special Saint Martin giant pretzels. 

We went to both with our dear friends the Kuppers and had a wonderful time. Benjamin made a beautiful lantern and we loved hearing him sing the songs in German with his friends (with such a great accent by the way :)). We look forward to this every year.

Here are pictures of our Kindergarten Laterne Wandern...

We walked through the woods until we came to a clearing where we gathered around this beautifully decorated tree.

The kids sang some songs for us and the principal talked about who Saint Martin was.
Liam, all bundled in the hat and sweater Nan Nan made for him, really liked the lights.
They had lots of yummy cookies and rolls. All pretty new and different to Ben, but he did a great job trying them.
He thought this one was alright.

He was given a special chocolate covered gingerbread cake shaped like a pretzel. Benjamin didn't like it at all... but guess who did? I didn't realize at first that he let Liam try it. Liam will try pretty much anything.

I don't know that he loved it, but he was willing to gnaw away on it for a while... before mommy lured him away with something not chocolate.

It was cold, but the rain held off and we had a wonderful time.

I'll be right back with pictures from the Village Lantern Walk!