We attended our first Martinmas/Lantern Festival this year at Kinderhaus Toys in Williamsburg. It was tons of fun and really just a beautiful thing to do. We arrived a little early so I could go to Knitting Sisters (a few stores away in the same 'village') to get some knitting needles I needed to make longies for little sprout, but Kevin and K went straight to Kinderhaus.
The first thing K saw was the yummy hot apple cider (she LOVES hot apple cider) and cookies galore. She was so caught up with all the yummies she hardly noticed what was going on around her. The store was filled with kids of all ages playing and getting ready to make their lanterns.
The kids had to go in 2 separate batches (there were 15 kids total and not enough room for everyone to make their lanterns at the same time). K was in the first batch and even had a seat right next to her best friend Fiona. I helped her make her lantern while Kevin took pictures. She picked out pink kite paper for her lantern and colored on it a little bit, but really just wanted to eat more cookies. After she colored on it, I glued it together, and again she was too busy eating to help LOL. Once it was all done we moved out of the way so another little girl could sit in our seat, and K went back to eating and playing. Then, when everyone was done, a violin player got everyones attention and we lit our lanterns and practiced the song one time inside before going for our walk/parade.
Lantern song Translated from German
I'm going with my lantern and my lantern goes with me.
Above us shine the stars; and under shine we.
A sea of light like Martin's might,
Rabammel, Rabammel, Rabumm.
I'm going with my lantern and my lantern goes with me.
Above us shine the stars; and under shine we.
How sweet the sound, when everyone sings,
Rabammel, Rabammel, Rabumm.
I'm going with my lantern and my lantern goes with me.
Above us shine the stars; and under shine we.
My light is out, I'm going home.
Rabammel, Rabammel, Rabumm.
I'm going with my lantern and my lantern goes with me.
Above us shine the stars; and under shine we.
A sea of light like Martin's night,
Rabammel, Rabammel, Rabumm.
Then we all went outside as the violinist played the music for us and we sang and walked. I finished knitting K's mittens the night before so she wore them for the first time during the Lantern parade. It was pretty chilly out, so it was a good thing I finished them in time.
We took about a 15 minute walk. It was at about 5:00 at night, so it was getting dark, but not too dark yet. After the walk, we went back to the store and K played and chowed down on some more cookies while we talked with Tiffeni and D'Anne, making some wintertime plans.
It was a fun day!
