"Martinstag" or "Laternen Fest", the feast of Saint Martin of Tours
Tonight our local community of Bierstadt celebrated "Laternen Fest", or "Feast of lanterns", also called "Sankt Martins Tag" (Saint Martin's Day). Saint Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier who converted to Christianity and spread his faith across Europe. His official bio is here.
His day is not celebrated in the United States, but it is pretty widespread across Europe, and known as "Martinmas" in England. The various customs differ, and you can read a full rundown here if you wish. In Germany, it goes like this: essentially you walk through the town in the freezing cold (which helps illustrate the moment when Saint Martin gave his coat to a poor beggar), following a rider on a horse (representing Martin), while small children hold lanterns and sing songs about the Saint. The procession has a police escort, and people play musical instruments along the route. At the end, is a large bonfire and hot cocoa and cider for everyone.
The holiday is actually November 11, but I suppose it was moved to tonight to avoid the traffic out on a Saturday night. It's a Catholic celebration that has more or less morphed into a community night. Amazingly, many Protestant and even Turkish families get involved, even though neither recognize Saints as such. The turnout was somewhere around 200 people or so, which is pretty robust for a small community in Europe, where religion has quietly faded out of most people's everyday lives.
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