Martinmas

Lantern, Lantern,
Sun, moon and stars,
Burn, my light,
Burn, my light,
But not only the light of my dear lantern.

A Martinmas Circle

This week, we'll start with a story poem found in "An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten". This is a great little book, and is on sale right now at Bob and Nancy's Bookshop.

George's Lantern
Lying in the meadow grass
And gazing at the autumn sky,
"Dear Father Sun," said George out loud,
"It will be winter by and by."

"The nights will be long, dark, and cold.
Jack Frost will freeze the ground.
How shall I find the light
With so much darkness all around?"

Said Father Sun, "I'll give you from my
Last autumn rays, a spark,
If you will make a little house
To hold it in the dark."

With paper, paint, some windows
And a candle it was done!
George came out and held his lantern
Up to Father Sun.

Suddenly the windows lit,
The spark was dancing bright.
Carefully,
George carried home
His lantern in the twilight.
Then we see some lantern songs.
The sunlight fast is dwindling.
My little lamp needs kindling.
It's beam shines far in darkest night,
Dear lantern guard me with your light.

Next, we'll sing My Lantern from A Child's Seasonal Treasury.
My lantern, my lantern,
Sun and moon and starlight.
In the darkened heaven high
Shine no stars within the sky.
Darkened is the path this night
With no moon or star as light.

My lantern, my lantern,
Sun and moon and starlight,
Friendly little lantern bright,
Be my sun and shield this night.
Be my moon and sun so high.
No light is in the sky.

And a song from Autumn Wystones.
We carry our light in the darkening night,
That we may behold that wondrous sight!


And, finally,
I'm coming with my lantern
And my lantern comes with me.
There over the light are stars,
Here under the light are we.
My light is out,
We're going home,
Rabimmel, rabammel, rum!

We end with a song about St. Martin.
St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin
Rode through wind and snow,
His horse carried him so quick-ly on
In comfort and warmth through the cold he did go
His thick cloak around him tight-ly drawn.

In the cold snow, in the cold snow, in the cold snow
There sat a poor old man
He wore only rags and called with choked breath,
"Oh help me please - please if you can
Or the bitter frost will mean my death."

St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin
Reined his horse to his side
It stood quietly by as if it knew
How with his sword, St. Martin would divide
His warm, thick cloak right in-to two.

St. Martin, St. Martin,
Gave one half to the man to put on
The grateful man turned, but before he spoke
Noble St. Martin had already gone
Wearing his half of the div-id-ed cloak.

Weekend Round-Up: Martinmas edition!

I love Martinmas. It's such a gentle, loving celebration, shining a light in the darkness as the days grow colder and longer.

We've opted for a week-long celebration of the feast of St. Martin of Tours. Who was St. Martin? He was a Catholic bishop who died around 397. The Baldwin Project-- how I love this website!-- has several stories of St. Martin on their website:
The Story of the Patron Saint of France
St. Martin from In God's Garden

St. Martin's Cloak is one of the most-told stories of Martinmas. In honor of St. Martin, we'll be going through all the coats, hats, scarves, and mittens up the attic. We'll get the kids' winter coats and things down, and give away what we don't need.

We like to couple the St. Martin story with a reading of Matthew 25:31-40. Lantern walks are a traditional part of Martinmas, and there are many sites that show how to make lanterns. Here are a few of my favorites:
Balloon lanterns, with jar and can lanterns shown as well
Uncommon Grace has beautiful oiled watercolor lanterns
Watercolor lanterns with cutouts from Our Little Nature Nest
More beautiful balloon lanterns from Klease
Jar Lanterns
More jar lanterns
Still more jar lanterns
Folded paper star lanterns
Paper bag lanterns

And hopefully at some point this week, we'll have a little lantern walk.

We may have to make some of these little St. Martins as well.

And Teaching Handwork has some beautiful examples of Martinmas art.

And of course, don't forget the free St. Martin's Day study at Alphabet Garten.

Of course, Martinmas has food traditions as well. Here are some of my favorites:
Goose with apple stuffing
Hobby horse cake
St. Martin's horseshoe cookies
Martinmas steaks from Scotland
St. Martin 's Day croissants
And, for the grown-ups, Bishop's Wine

Martinmas is celebrated in many countries, and you can read about some of them here:
School of the Seasons (scroll down to November 11)
Wilson's Almanac
Martinstag
Martinmas in Ireland

I'll hopefully be posting our Martinmas circle tomorrow, but here are some other sites with great ideas for stories, songs, poems, and more:
Our Little Nature Nest: Martinmas links
Fun Facts About St. Martin's Day
Song: Martinmas Time
Wonderful German Martinmas songs
And more Martinslieder