November 11th, Veteran's Day, happens to land on the Feast of St. Martin of Tours. Appropriately, St. Martin was a soldier himself, who became a Christian and spread the Light of Christ to pagan Rome. As a result, fire is one of his symbols. Over the centuries, the symbolism encompassed the season his feast landed on. As the days of late Fall grew darker, more lights were lit to meet the winter.
Lantern processions became traditional throughout Europe on this day. And why shouldn't we get in on that fun?! I love finding ways to reclaim tradition!
This celebration is so fun, and so easy to celebrate. Just lighting a candle and reading a story of the life of St. Martin in your home to your children would be lovely and special, but for the past two years we have been lucky enough to make this celebration happen on a bit larger of a scale.
This afternoon found us making some last minute Ball jar lanterns:
Just mod podge, tissue, and more mod podge--you can't go wrong!
They always turn out so beautifully!
We are blessed to have a parish priest who is very supportive of our little creative initiatives...so we secured the hall and church for the evening. Evites went out for a pot luck.
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| Spice cake and clam chowder are traditional fare. There were ham and rolls, and a large variety of platters, cider and an apple pie to round out the meal! |
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| proud and happy! |
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| I loved this one |
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| Galadriel's, yes, it's accessorized! |
Here we go!
I was also in the first half of the processors, so sadly, I didn't get a great group shot. I think there were about 40 of us there. That's about double last year. I'm hoping to double it again next year!
Happy Feast Day!
The lanterns are beautiful! So sad we couldn't make it! I just couldn't swing it today. Thanks for the pictures! Hopefully we can finally make it next year!
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