Martinmas Songs 2011

Tomorrow (November 11) is Martinmas, the feast of St. Martin, the Roman soldier who gave half of his cloak to a beggar. St. Martin was a Roman soldier, so it's a fitting coincidence that his feast day falls on Veteran's Day. I gathered together my resources from previous years in a Natural Kids Team post, which I am linking here only so that if you've spontaneously decided to have a lantern walk, you don't have to hunt long for songs. The hot cider, pumpkin bread, and bonfire is up to you!

The House of Glee is not attending a lantern walk this year (though I am grateful to the person who invited my family to attend her school's gathering tonight). If Lucia was still in attendance at her old Waldorf school, we would rally, but both Bede and Lucia are struggling to recover from coughs and colds. 

I plan at least to light the candelabra in our fireplace. In lieu of roasted goose (legend had it that St. Martin hid in a barn to avoid being appointed a bishop, but the hollering of the geese revealed his makeshift refuge), we'll have curry. There are three chocolate pumpkin bread muffins left, too.

And they are good.

Crafty Thursday: Autumn Themed Dolls

For this week's Crafty Thursday post, I am pleased to present four autumn-themed dolls photographed with autumn trees by The Enchanted Cupboard and wooden flames by Mamakopp:



The four dolls in the photo are a Lantern Walker for Martinmas(shop link will added after the doll is listed), Salamander King fire elemental, Night Queen, and Guitar Player. Here are pictures of the backs of the capes for the Night Queen and Salamander King:


Night Queen's bat


Salamander King's creatures

As I wrote in my shop listing, the legend of the fire-resistant salamander may be inspired by the species that hibernate on logs. When people threw logs on a fire, the salamanders woke up and fled the flames.

Lantern Walk 2009

I've uploaded a home-movie of last night's Lantern Walk. It's on A Storytelling of Crows, my adjunct blog (and thus far my Martinmas blog by default).

Lantern Walk Songs for Martinmas

Martinmas is next week (November 11, which is also Veterans' Day), people are searching for lantern walk songs, and the visits to A Storytelling of Crows have increased. I had planned to post more songs on that blog over the past year, but it's remained by default the lantern walk song blog. You'll find "I Go Outside With My Lantern," "Glimmer, Lantern, Glimmer," and "My Lantern! My Lantern!" as video files with lyrics below. I wrote a post about St. Martin and the Lantern Walk in 2007, which you may find by following the hyperlink.

St. Martin and the Lantern Walk

November 5, 2008 update: You can find videos with lantern songs right here on A Storytelling of Crows.


St. Martin and the Beggar by El Greco

On the evening of Monday, November 12, Lucia's class will take part in her school's annual Lantern Walk. The children and their parents will gather outside to walk through the woods holding homemade lanterns and singing songs. Afterward, we'll gather around a bonfire, drink warm cider, and listen to a story. The Lantern Walk coincides with the feast of St. Martin of Tours on November 11. According to the most famous story of the saint, Martin was a Roman soldier who was traveling one cold winter night when he saw a begger in the streets. Even though Martin felt frozen to his toes, he was compelled to cut his cloak in two and give one of the halves to the beggar. That night, in a dream, he saw Christ clothed in the piece of the cloak he'd given the beggar. Afterward, Martin was less interested in the business of battle. When Martin finally left the service with an honorable discharge, he founded a number of monastaries and was elected Bishop of Tours in 371. According to the legend, Martin did not want to be elected, and tried to escape by hiding in a barn full of geese. However, the geese gave him away with their honking! Ergo, it's tradition to eat roast goose on St. Martin's feast day. Here's a more in-depth blog entry about St. Martin and his feast day (called Martinmas) from Mama Lisa's World Blog.

Sketch by Tony Dowler

One of the traditional songs to sing on the Lantern Walk is Ich geh mit meiner Lanterner. An English translation:

I go outside with my lantern,
my lantern goes with me.
Above us shine the stars so bright,
down here on earth shine we.
So shine my light in the still dark night,
Labimmel, Labammel, Laboom.
'Neath heaven's dome till we go home,
Labimmel, Labammel, Laboom.

We walk with our little lanterns,
our lanterns so shiny bright.
We wander through the darkness,
with winking, twinkling lights.
Like stars that swing are the lanterns we bring,
Labimmel, Labammel, Laboom.
'Neath heaven's dome till we go home,
Labimmel, Labammel, Laboom.