Martinstag

On November 11, the Germans celebrate St. Martins day.  (To lean more about it click here .)  The teachers at Jonathan's preschool had us make paper lanterns.  In the evening we met in the village of Hirschhorn and all of the kids and parents walked around with the paper lanterns and sang songs.  

We ended at the Turnhalle were there was a bonfire, rindwurst, brezels, gluehwein and tea.  We washed our "hotdogs" and  big pretzels down with our own bottled water.  It was a fun and interesting way to celebrate the day since it was also Veteran's Day.  

I didn't know who St. Martin was until I looked him up on Wikipedia.  I thought we were celebrating the end of WWI and that St. Martin must somehow be connected with the war.  I was totally wrong.  

Here are some pictures of Jonathan and Elijah (a little friend of Jonathan's who was staying with us for a few days) with the homemade lantern.