11th
Gearing up for Halloween
When I lived in Holland I had heard of Halloween but we didn’t celebrate it there. Instead us kids were excited to dress up (totally optional) and carry a lantern door-to-door in the early evening hours of November 11. The Holiday is called Saint Martin (Sint Maarten). The day is celebrated in parts of Belgium (Flanders) and some parts of the Netherlands and most areas of Germany and Austria. Children go to houses with paper lanterns and candles, and sing songs about St. Martin in return for treats.
The most exciting part about that evening was the challenge of not letting the paper lantern go up in flames before we filled up our pockets with candy. Try to imagine: the lantern was made of crepe paper, with a small tealight in the center. Add a long unstable wooden dowel to hang the lantern from and a healthy Dutch winter wind… everyone’s having fun now!
