Today it is November 11, and it is St. Martin's Day, a special children's holiday that is celebrated every year in Germany and other European countries. All of the children at my Kindergarten made paper lanterns that they will light up tonight and parade through the town, knocking on doors for candy. Then they have a big bon fire and sing songs, such as Lanterne. But first, they meet at their church and have a short mass about St. Martin. Legends tell that he was a kind man who gave half of his cloak to a beggar during a snowstorm to save him from dying. That night St. Martin dreamed that Jesus was wearing his half cloak, and he heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clothed me." I like this legend as it reminds me of the scripture, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40)
I am having a St. Martin's Day party today. I have invited over some new friends, a cute German family, Anja and Christian Eckert and their daughters, Elena (9) and Katharina (4). I also invited the Sister Missionaries over. After lunch we took the train to attend Katharina's Russian-German Kindergarten's St. Martin's Day Celebration. We paraded around the block with lit lanterns and then went back to the school for a little play and treats.
Here are some pictures of Katharina's school. I love the art work.
St. Martin's Day is also a celebration of the Harvest, so I made a special apple dessert. If you like apple fritters, you will love these.
Gebacken Apfel Raupe
Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.
These are very quick and easy to make, but you will need to have mom or dad slice and fry the apples.You can dip them in the cinnamon sugar.
Make crepe batter:
1 cup milk mixed with 3 eggs.
Add to 1 c. flour, 2 T. sugar, and 1/2 t. salt.
Beat with mixer.
Core and thinly slice apples.
Heat oil in pan.
Dip apple slices into batter and drop into hot oil. They cook very quickly, so turn them over and then drain on paper towel.
Dip into cinnamon sugar and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Yum-Yum!
When we ate these at Weber's Restaurant, they were decorated like this, all fancied up:
