St. Martin's Day in Germany

Frohen Martinstag! November 11th is St. Martin's Day in Germany, which is a catholic holiday celebrating, you guessed it, St. Martin. Some typical traditions include having big bonfires (Martinsfeuer) and kids walking through the streets at night holding lanterns and singing songs. One of the most popular songs for this is probably "Ich geh mit meiner Laterne" (which I sang for you guys in my facebook story today if you wanna check it out). Most kids make their own lanterns at school or at home with their parents. Here are some of my old homemade lanterns - the sun wearing sunglasses that my dad made with me was my all-time favorite! I also remember that we would attend St. Martin plays (often just outside at school or church) where St. Martin was riding a horse and cutting his coat in half to share it with a beggar. Many families also have a goose on the dinner table and people bake goose-shaped pastries. P.S. Today ALSO marks the beginning of Karneval season which especially in the Rheinland region in Germany is a lot more important than St. Martin's Day.