Martinmas

 

Happy Martinmas to everyone!  We did not have time to make any paper mache lanterns with so much going on around here but we did decorate our walking lantern with some leaves cut from water color painted tissue.  We also had some hot cinnamon apple cider and sugared croissants (I left them in the oven two minutes too long and the sugar burned a little).  They tasted amazing though you can’t really tell from the picture.  The kids asked if they were getting a little treat bag this year (usually a little fabric bag with tangerines and nuts or sweets)  so I promised them it would come this weekend.

Have you ever celebrated the Feast of Saint Martin?  In case you do not know the story of Martinmas.

St. Martin of Tours was born in Hungary and grew up the son of a Roman military officer in Pavia, Italy. He joined the Roman army and was sent to Amiens, where, on horseback, he met a starving man begging alms at the city gates. Moved by deep compassion, he tore his red, woolen his cloak in two with his sword and gave half to the beggar. The next night, he had a dream in which he saw Jesus wearing the half of the cloak he’d given away, surrounded by angels. In the dream, Our Lord asked him to look at it and to see if he recognized it. He did, of course, and realized that he must convert and devote his life to Christ.  St. Martin’s remaining piece of cloak became a very revered relic. In fact, the building where his cloak — “cappa” in Latin — was preserved was known as the “cappella,” the root of our words “chapel” and “chaplain.”

the leaves on the lantern where made by the girls.  They painted some white tissue with some water color paints in orange, burnt umber and yellow shades.  Once the tissue was dry, they traced leaves onto it and cut them out.  Then they applied watered down glue to the leaves and smoothed them onto our lantern glass.

A nice warm Saint Martin Sugared Croissant with a hot cup of cinnamon apple cider to warm us up from the inside out on such a chilly night.