2008.11. - Halloween & St Martin

Pumpkins -

Costumes -

And more sweets then you can handle -

This must be Halloween! And time for Trick or Treating at Carl Schurz!


Come on ghosts, witches and pirates, we have a mission to complete !

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According to the German tradition, we also got to celebrate St Martin on the 11th of November.

Annie made her own lantern in Kindergarten and we marched through the dark woods with the other children, singing St Martin songs.


The celebration honors a Roman soldier, later named St Martin. He was baptized as an adult and became a monk. It is understood that he was a kind man who led a quiet and simple life. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold.

Did you know?

* From the late 4th century to the late Middle Ages, much of Western Europe, including Great Britain, engaged in a period of fasting beginning on the day after St. Martin's Day, November 11. This fast period lasted 40 days, and was, therefore, called "Quadragesima Sancti Martini", which means in Latin "the forty days of St. Martin." This fasting time was later called "Advent" by the Church.

* Also, in some parts of Belgium (and Holland ? - this I have to confirm with Bernardo) children receive presents from St. Martin on November 11, instead of from Saint Nicholas on December 6 or Santa Claus on December 25.

* In Latin America, he has a strong popular following and is frequently referred to as San Martín Caballero, in reference to his common depiction on horseback.

* Martin Luther was purportedly named after St. Martin, as he was baptized on November 11 (St. Martin's Day), 1483.