St. Martin at Eudenbach and the visit to Cologne Zoo

St. Martin at Eudenbach

In Germany, there are lots of holydays that make people celebrate. Germans never miss a chance to celebrate. Most of the celebrations involve drinking beer, so it is mainly for adults. But for St. Martin, the celebration is solely for children. The preparations begin days before. The children start to prepare their specially decorated lamp which involved paper and painting work. Usually the lamp is made in the shape of an owl and then a small candle or a battery operated bulb is placed inside. With the help of the teachers, the children are ready on time to celebrate their day.

Mrs. Jungbluth asked me if I would like to see the St. Martin celebration. I don’t want to miss anything in Germany since everything is new and interesting for me. Even though this celebration is for children, but I feel I would have more fun there.

So, on November 11, after I had some fun helping Marc building his house, Mrs. Jungbluth came and picked me up. In the building place, Mr. Jungbluth insisted that I wear a jacket and long boots because it was cold and the ground was muddy. I did wear the jacket but kept my sport shoe on. At the end of the work, my shoe was all muddy. So when I drove with Mrs. Jungbluth, I had to put my work dress under by feet so that I would not make a mess in the car. We headed to Anke’s house to pick up Johannes. He was ready with his self-made lamp. His was operated on a battery and seemed safer that those with candles inside.

As we arrived to the gathering point, all the people had gathered around the school although we were like ten minutes earlier. The children were gathered in groups according to age. Johannes group was a little bit further from the school. When we got to Johannes’ group, we saw all the children excited and happy with their lamps. Many lamp designs can be noticed but they all looked so nice. Each child was accompanied with a guardian so the group was a mixture of young an old. After waiting for some time and watching the children showing their lamps to each other, a man dressing like a knight and riding a horse came along. He was surrounded by four persons with torches. The man’s dress was read and the helm was gold in color. He represented St. Martin who had some status position in his days.

As the man on the horse passed by, all the groups followed starting with Johannes’ groups since it was the youngest. As we followed, the music band started playing and the children started singing holiday songs they learned in school and talked about St. Martin who was a man with status, but when a guy asked him for help because of the cold, he took of his hood and split it into two and shared it with the poor people. This is as much as I understood from the entire St. Martin story and I wonder if it said more.

As we marched around the village, we came to a field just outside the place and the people started gathering on the street. After a short while, and amid the darkness, there was a blaze of fire that burned in a mountain like pile of wood. All people were watching with excitement and St. Martin kept riding the horse as if making a small parade for entertainment. Each time the fire cooled down, specialized people set it out again with some fuel that made the fire storm again. The fire fighter trucks were always accompanying the march to make sure all went safe.

After this spectacular small show, we all went back to the school where the children gathered around St. Martin and sang some songs after the teacher had explained again the purpose of St. Martin celebration and the story of St. Martin. The children were then left to their homes after they got the holiday bread with raisins. I also got my share.

Mrs. Jungbluth told me not to each much of the bread because a big goose was waiting for us at Anke’s house. When we got there, we were welcomed by Anke and her husband Michael. Their children Johannes and Elisabeth were so happy to show me their rooms, and I think I was even happier to do that. Then I heard Anke and Mrs. Jungbluth calling me and telling me to bring my camera. So I rushed with my camera into the kitchen just to see the oven opened and a big goose deliciously cooked and placed on the oven door. So I took a picture to always remember the moment. The goose was so delicious and we were so happy eating it. It was a day to remember.

The Cologne Zoo Visit

On November 12, Mr. and Mrs. Jungbluth, Johannes, Elisabeth, and me visited the wonderful zoo of cologne.

Here is the photo album for this section.

See also:

• Bonn Christmas Market / The Microscope 13 Dec 2006
• Lebanese Nights, Villa Hugel, and the Eudenbach Festival 23 Nov 2006
• Halloween and the Lohengrin Opera in Cologne 03 Nov 2006
• Limburg old city DOM and Bad Ems Russian city 29 Oct 2006
• The Street Feast, Schwarzrheindorf church, and a Walk in the German nature 22 Oct 2006
• Koenigswinter / Unkel 16 Oct 2006
• Pictures from around Bocholt 04 Apr 2006
• From Beirut to Germany 25 Mar 2006
• Photo Gallery 19 Jan 2006
• [View All]