day 1957: odin celebrates st. martin’s day with a lantern and a song. from Eric C. Snowdeal III on Vimeo.

while november 11th is widely known as armistice or veteran’s day, to the children in odin’s kindergarten, it’s martinmas or st. martin’s day. according to legend, st. martin cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. that night he dreamed that jesus was wearing the half-cloak. just like children in faraway places they celebrate by tromping through the town with handmade paper lanterns and candles, singing songs about st. martin.

it’s quite an exciting event for the children and they spend weeks making their lanterns and learning the songs. usually they make their trek at dusk, but this year they chose to visit The Elders ( elderly folks at local nursing homes ) before lunch to brighten their day.

when i got home from work, odin was still singing his songs and wanted to impress upon us the wonderful effect of singing by candlight 🙂

odin was particularly proud of his lantern design, including braiding the handle and tying the handle to the lantern with a double knot ( A Really Big Deal )!