St. Martin

On the 11th day of the 11th month, at precisely 11 minutes past 11 AM, St. Martin's Day is celebrated in predominantly Catholic regions of Germany. In Cologne, the Carnival season opens on Altermarkt at exactly the same hour.

©German Culture

On the evening of St. Martin's Day, boys and girls traditionally light candles in their lanterns, walk around the houses, and sing St. Martin ist ein guter Mann, der uns als Beispiel gelten kann (St. Martin is a good man who can serve us as an example). The best-known legend of St. Martin, the bishop of Tours who lived in the 4th century, is the one in which he, still a Roman soldier, tore his cloak in two to share it with a freezing beggar in Amiens.

You already met St. Martin in an earlier blog. While the controversy over a new picture at Freiburg's Martinstor (Martin's Gate) still needs to be resolved, another dispute has arisen in Germany.

Rüdiger Sagel, Chairman of Die Linke (post-communist party) in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said that in Kitas (Kindertagestätten > day care centers), you will not only find Christians but also children of other faiths. One should not impose a Christian tradition on them. He instead is advocating a Sonne-Mond-und-Sterne-Fest (sun, moon, and star fest). In fact, in Protestant Northern Germany without saints, the kids promenading their lanterns usually sing Laterne, Laterne, Sonne, Mond und Sterne, brenne auf mein Licht, brenne auf mein Licht, nur meine liebe Laterne nicht (Lantern, lantern, sun, moon, and stars, burn away my light, burn away my light, but not my beloved lantern), a tearful disaster that happens once in a while.

Sagel's remark caused a storm of indignation. One politician considered the obsession with political correctness very sad. Another proposed renaming the Day of the Ascension of Christ to the Day of Manned (sorry, Human) Space Flight. 

The President of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman A. Mazyek, pointed out quickly that many Muslim families like this spectacle of lanterns and torches. The idea of sharing, personified in St. Martin, is also anchored in the Muslim tradition. Some Kitas in the state of Hesse have already renamed the Martinsfest, whereas Red Baron will enjoy the candle-lit St. Martin's processions in Freiburg tonight.

Pictures added in proof:

On my way to a lecture about Switzerland during the Second World War, I met some adults who have remained young at heart. I took a photo with my iPhone.

When I opened the Badische Zeitung this morning, I found a photo (©BZ) showing a young lady on a horse playing the role of St. Martin. Do you consider this obsessive political correctness?

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