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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (11th November) is the feast day of > > Martin of Tours (d. 397) Martin was born in what is now Szombathely, > Hungary, the son of a Roman army officer. At the age of 15 he joined the > imperial cavalry, and five years later converted to Christianity (legend > says that this was after he gave half his cloak to a beggar and had a > vision of Christ). ** His tomb at Tours was a > popular pilgrimage shrine for many centuries. St Martin is a sort of godfather to the Church in Scotland, having (so legend says) inspired Ninian on his way back from Rome with the monastic idea which he [Ninian] then implemented at Whithorn, dedicating his church to St Martin in the year Martin died. My question, however, concerns the other thing I know about St Martin, which is the lanterns... German children, and children in Steiner schools everywhere, make little lanterns and carry them round on St Martin's day, singing a song about it. Does anyone know why? Or is it simply the autumn fire/light festival attaching itself to a major saint in the same way that it became attached to All Saints Eve in Scotland? Pat McIntosh-Spinnler ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html