Martinmas

Lord God of hosts, you clothed your servant Martin the soldier with the spirit of sacrifice, and set him as a bishop in your Church to be a defender of the catholic faith: Give us grace to follow in his holy steps, that at the last we may be found clothed with righteousness in the dwellings of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

 - Collect for St. Martin from Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2006

The night was dark and our lights were bright.    The story was told in the center of the labyrinth with figures and candles.  The children were joyful on their nighttime adventure and the cookies were warm.  "Let it Shine, Let it Shine" and "You are the light of the World..." rang out through the mild November night.  I do believe the Martinmas lantern walk is my favorite remembrance of a saint.

We've settled on the following cookies as our Martinmas tradition.  The cookies are cut in starts, moons and christmas lights to represent the light of sharing.  We all broke our first cookie after the walk in half and shared the larger half with the person beside us in the spirit of St. Martin sharing half his cloak with the beggar.  The children who ate a second (or third) cookie still wanted to share half with someone, much to our delight.

Martinmas Gingerbread Cookies

adapted from Apples for Jam

These are a subtle gingerbread cookie and go wonderfully with coffee.  We dipped the left overs in dark chocolate for a special treat.

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

7 oz. cream (whipping or pouring)

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter

2 eggs

4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

warm maple syrup and spices in a small saucepan.  Stir until all spices are disolved.

Mix in cream.

Beat sugar and butter together for 2 minutes.  Add eg.  Mix in flour and baking powder alternating with the syrup/spice mixture.

Cover and refrigerate for 4 or more hours.  Using a generous amount of flour cut out shapes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-14 minutes (if making tiny cookies check sooner.)

Sift powdered sugar on the cooling cookies.

Enjoy!

Martinmas: Let your Light Shine

Today is Martinmas.  For awhile during the Roman Empire Martinmas was the beginning of Advent (which left 40 days of fasting till Christmas without Saturdays and Sundays).  It is a day to remember that we carry our light into a darkened world.  And while we don't begin our advent till four weeks before Christmas, there is always a shift for me at Martinmas.  Winter is coming and with it we prepare to celebrate light in darkness through the holidays.

Our homemade lanterns were a bit of a failure (we attempted balloon lanterns like this).  I didn't get the tissue till Sunday and we didn't get started till today so they didn't have enough time to dry.  I tried breaking the balloons and they totally crumpled.  So, out came the battery lanterns Great-Grammie sent for the older boys when Athan was born.

I must say the path we walked in Scotland, which was dark, was much more appealing for a lantern walk.  The boys were rather disappointed that street lights made our lanterns pretty unnecessary.  Next year we'll have to go to a park or green space.

But despite all that could have been better, we had a good walk around our block with our lanterns singing This Little Light of Mine and You Are The Light Of The World (Matthew 5:14 & 16).  (Every year I intend to learn some of the lovely Waldorf kindergarten songs to add to the mix, but never seem to manage.)   It was a balmy night and we all loved sharing some yummy ginger cookies shaped like stars, moons, Christmas lights and men when we got back to the house.  It was really meaningful to talk to the boys about St. Martin and what it means to be a light in the darkness this year.  I love watching their understanding of traditions grow each year.

Martinmas

We celebrated Martinmas (the feast of St. Martin) last night for the first time.  The story of Martin is a wonderful one.  A young Roman officer in France, Martin sees a beggar in the cold so he takes his sword and slashes his own cape in two giving half to the poor man.  I painted figures during nap time and made two simple capes with elastic through them - they can be worn as one cape and then one can be taken off to be shared.  The boys loved the story and it was especially appropriate as we we've just finished studying Rome.  

After Dinner we headed out on a lantern walk - a Martinmas tradition.  The boys had such a fun time walking on the Lade Braes with their lanterns in the dark.  They are begging to do it again soon.

I was inspired by lantern images I found online.  We used some sheets of watercolor paper (the boys have been doing a lot of wet-on-wet painting) and then modge podged tissue over holes I cut with an exacto knife.  It was a simple and fun project.  Next time we will all use electric candles.  I like real candles, but Jim and mine blew out in the first minute of walking through the gusty Scottish night (the boys luckily had electric candles so their lanterns worked well).