Day 314: 11/11/11- Martinmas Lantern Walk

Day 314: 11/11/11
New Thing: Martinmas Lantern Walk                         

Inspiration: Martinmas    
Cost: $0
Time: 30 minuets 
Bottom Line: A walk by lantern light with Little D.

Reflection: Today is the Feast of St. Martin of Tours, also know as Martinmas. Here is his story from wikipedia:

While Martin was still a soldier in the Roman army and deployed in Gaul (modern day France), he experienced the vision that became the most-repeated story about his life. One day as he was approaching the gates of the city of Amiens he met a scantily clad beggar. He impulsively cut his own military cloak in half and shared it with the beggar. That night, Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he had given away. He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized; he has clad me." In another story, when Martin woke, his cloak was restored, and the miraculous cloak was preserved among the relic collection of the Merovingian kings of the Franks.

Small temporary churches were built for the relic and people began to refer to them by the word for little cloak "capella" that these churches housed. Eventually small churches lost their association with the cloak and all small churches began to be referred to as Chapels.

The dream confirmed Martin in his piety, and he was baptized at the age of 18. He served in the military for another two years until, just before a battle with the Gauls at Borbetomagus (now Worms, Germany) in 336, Martin determined that his faith prohibited him from fighting, saying, "I am a soldier of Christ. I cannot fight." He was charged with cowardice and jailed, but in response to the charge, he volunteered to go unarmed to the front of the troops. His superiors planned to take him up on the offer, but before they could, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service.

Lighting the Lamps

There are tons of customs associated with this feast day, but one of my favorites is the lantern walk that children take all over the world. On this day, people have traditionally made paper lanterns to walk around spreading the warmth of Christ with their light. Well, we didn't have time to make paper lanterns in our house this week, so we used a few of the pretty ones that we have for decoration instead. Little D. and I lit our lamps and strolled in the graveyard where I told her the story of St. Martin. The we went into the old church and put out lanterns on the alter while we said a quick prayer. It was the perfect way to end the week.