Martinmas

Tomorrow, November 11th, is Martinmas. This will be our family's first time celebrating this festival, and it ties in beautifully with Leah's Saints block. We are reading the version of the story found in More Once-Upon-a-Time Saints: Faith-Tales for Children by Ethel Marbach, 1978. I found another version of this book on Amazon, rereleased under her married name of Ethel Pochocki, but it looks like it has different saints in it? Does anyone have this book?

(My copy has stories for Joan Delanoue, Philip Neri, David of Wales, Catherine (Kateri) Tekakwitha, Martin of Tours, Elizabeth of Portugal, Christopher, Rose of Lima, Francis de Sales, Teresa of Avila, Anne, and Adauctus.)

There are craft ideas for making Martinmas lanterns in both All Year Round: Christian Calendar of Celebrations(pp. 163-166) and The Children's Year: Seasonal Crafts and Clothes(pp.104-105).

Many beautiful blackboard drawings for the story of St. Martin are collected on my Pinterest page, so I will be making one tonight! There's also a link to a beautiful wet felted lantern. I am looking at the weather forecast and it looks like there will be severe storms with rain and high winds tomorrow night in Southern Illinois, so we won't attempt a lantern walk around our yard. My husband suggested that we do table lanterns as a centerpiece on the dinner table tomorrow night and, since we don't have to worry about them carrying the weight of the candle, we will set out our candles, and make sheaths of aluminum foil to stand around them, like the hurricane on a lamp. We can lay these sheaths down on large pieces of cork and use different household objects to punch designs in them... knitting needles of various sizes, Phillips and standard screwdrivers, pins and needles, forks, etc. It will be fun to see what creative textures and designs result! We will also make a meal which is easy to divide in half and share, with each of us passing half of what we are given for dinner to the person on our left.

Lastly, a stunningly beautiful picture on Pinterest has also inspired me to try to recreate these window transparencies. I can't wait to see how they turn out! Beautiful art tissue papers can be found at A Child's Dream Come True (9" x 9") and Nova Natural Toys and Crafts (12" x 18").

Rose Windows and How to Make Them also contains a section on how to make transparencies, including the frame, the background, and the figures. Helga gives step-by-step instructions for the fairy tale The Star-Money, as well as a scene of Lantern Children (pp.72-73) which could be for Martinmas.

Any other craft or story links for Martin, or suggestions for traditions to accompany this holiday? Please share!

Just a reminder that this block doesn't have to only be Saints... many call it Saints and Virtuous People, or Saints and Heroes. We recently had a Virtuous Person add himself into our block. Leah was folding and putting away the baby's laundry when she stepped on a cassette tape which was on the floor. It was The Man Who Planted Trees

I can take a hint from the Universe! We will be adding the life of Elzéard Bouffier, an amazing story, to this MLB.