Life: Idiotropic

This was our last St. Martin's Day in Germany. It feels strange to think that. But, with that in mind, we went out last night into the cold to walk around our village with the children's lanterns shining bright.

Of course, I got the time wrong, so though I planned to miss the lengthy German mass at the church, we also missed the very beginning of the parade and the bonfire behind the fire station where St. Martin rides his horse around the fire and gives his cloak to the poor man. Still, the kids all had the lanterns that they'd made in school and we caught up in enough time to do most of the parade walking together with over 400 children and their families.

Our parade has gotten popular. The firemen here are in charge of it each year. They go door to door collecting donation and giving tickets to the children for a donation. They'd come by over a month ago to give out tickets. Then all the money collected is used to buy treats for the bags. For each ticket handed out, a bag of treats is put together. The ladies in the village over 80 years old get together and put them all together - large sacks full. This year they made over 450 sacks for the children. Each had a large Weckmannbrot, 2 clementines, 1 apple, 1 large package of Speculatus cookies, 1 large package of honey dominos (delicious!), a small bag of chips, a full sized snickers bar, a full sized Alpina chocolate bar, and seven other smaller candy treats - lollipops, cookies, and gummis.

The band led the parade with St. Martin on his horse. The firetruck ended the parade as the caboose keeping traffic at bay. And the firemen walked with us all along the parade route carrying long fire sticks and stomping out the bits of burning cinders that would fall from them every few minutes. We finished the parade wrapping around the church and heading to the new firehouse. All along the parade route people in the village stood outside their doors to wave or peeked from their curtains to watch the children walk by. Even at Il Genio's, our local pizza place, folks stood outside on the steps waving to the children and shouting hellos to people they knew.

At the firehouse the band played the traditional St. Martin's Day songs, the children lined up to greet St. Martin with his brass hat and Santa-like beard, and the parents gathered by the tent to the left where they sold hot chocolate, gluwein (hot, spiced red wine), and shots of amaretto to go in either. And oh, the gluwein was just that much better with a bit of amaretto in it! Delicious. And it certainly warms you up on a cold night. So we all stood together after we saw St. Martin, drinking our warm drinks and talking with our friends and neighbors before heading home. I was also able to meet the man in charge of the Carnival parade this year, so we may just have a float in our village parade!

Before we were home, all three little girls had already gotten into their bags and eaten the heads of their Weckmannbrots. So, the bread above with Arianna is actually Tiara's .... the only one that survived long enough for a photo op.