12 November, 2008

martinmas...

yesterday was martinmas and we enjoyed a lovely little lantern walk just after the sun set. this festival has always been a favorite of mine. it's magical seeing the lanterns all candlelit in the darkness. and it always brings about a feeling of cherishing and protecting the light, in preparation for the coming season of darkness. this celebration of martinmas is a special one, as it is truly about sharing our own inner light and being of service to others...




the story of saint martin is a simple one. he was a roman soldier who, on one cold november night, saw a beggar man by the side of the road. the man was freezing and begging for help, but everyone was passing him by. however martin, feeling great compassion for the man, chose to stop and help him. he removed his cloak, cut it in half, and shared one half of it with the beggar...who was no doubt grateful. that night, martin dreamed the beggar was the christ. and he came to realize that by helping this man...he had been in service to god and, indeed, to all mankind.



in honor of this selfless act, we began our martinmas celebration by first telling the story of saint martin amid glowing candles in our living room. then we lit our lanterns and carried them out into the darkness to walk our neighborhood and share some special gifts with friends. we offered our gifts of beeswax candles to our neighbors, along with some lovely artwork maya had created for them. we also plan on donating some warm clothing this week to those who are in need.





yours in celebration of this very special festival of light,

shelley

p.s.  i've just created a new waldorf festivals flickr group, a place to share our photos of all of the wonderful waldorf festivals throughout the year. please come and join me there!

27 comments:

Suzanne said...

What beautiful lanterns !

Jess said...

Just beautiful!

Anonymous said...

How beautiful! Did you make the lanterns and the candle holders? If so can you share the instruction? Or can you please share where you purchased them. Also, the candle wreath that is halfway down the page in the margin, is it a birthday ring or do you use it for another purpose and where did you get it? Everything looks so peaceful!

Anna said...

how lovely!

Grace said...

Your celebration sounds oh-so-sweet. And not too different from ours!

Miriam van den Bergh said...

The lanterns are so beautiful!

We have also celebrated Martinmas yesterday (or Sint Maarten as we call it, since we live in the Netherlands) with a lantern walk.

Our lanterns are made out of root vegetables (because it is the very last gift of Mother Earth, before the darkness of winter kicks in), like carrots and turnips, and decorated with carved-out scenes (sun, moon and stars for example), illuminated with a (beeswax) candle.

The children are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sinterklaas, this saturday ;)

denise said...

OH, that is beautiful! My boys have both been sick and it was pouring/snowing/icing last night so we didn't get to go outside. We stayed in and did light out candles and read our stories. :)

I love those paper lanterns that look like origami cranes - did you make those?

Anonymous said...

Oh the beauty! I remember this celebration from my own Waldorf days as a child.

I, too, would LOVE instructions for making the paper lanterns.

Thanks for sharing this gift of light with us.

FrontierDreams said...

Those pics are breathtaking Shelley!! I love them! What a wonderful night,huh?! <3

FrontierDreams said...

Oh and what a brilliant idea of donating clothes!! We will do this next year for sure!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful Martinmas celebration!...We are having a lantern walk tomorrow evening with friends...I love the idea of giving gifts to your neighbors...I would like to try that next year...Thanks for posting this :-)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!
Can you PLEASE share how to make the laterns/votive holders in pics 2 & 3??? Or where to buy some if they were bought?

Sarah said...

We enjoyed our Martinmas last night too although my girls feel they are too old for lantern walks--my response--can you ever be too old for a lantern walk???

Did you make she short little lanterns? Is there a pattern?

Jennifer said...

Could you share how you made your lanterns/ what book you found the instructions in? Or where you bought them? They're beautiful!!

BTW, are you in Austin?

Anonymous said...

Lovely, you capture the mood so well and your lanterns are gorgeous. Can't wait to see your new flicker group, your photos are always so inspiring!

waldorfmama said...

thanks, everyone, for your wonderful comments. i actually bought and have collected these candle holders from various waldorf schools thru the years. but i'm planning on making some and selling them in my waldorfmama etsy shop soon. :) the paper lanterns came from germany.

illiminated attic - we got our birthday/candlemas ring from germany years and years ago. it was handmade and i've never seen another one quite like it. but they do sell similar ones at novanatural.com.

miriam - we have also made lanterns out of turnips when my older daughter was in our co-op waldorf kindergarten and they were just lovely. and we, too, are eagerly awaiting saint nicholas day!

jennifer - we have family in austin and our intention is to move there sometime next year so that our daughter can go to the waldorf school there. :)

Dawn said...

Love, love, love the lanterns and candleholders. I bet that was so beautiful. Hmmm, the smell of beeswax candles burning...truly one of my favorite scents.

Blessings,
D.

Anonymous said...

your lanterns and candle holders are beautiful. everything looks so wonderful and peaceful. i love the way rooms look lit with candlelight.

my sister and i were going to try to do a lantern walk this year (with her local waldorf store), unfortunately our boys were too out of sorts to go. oh well, there is always next year. :)

TheSingingBird said...

shelley, the reverence that your family celebrates these special days with is one of the things i find so beautiful about these traditions. thank you for sharing such beauty to all of us.♥

Ella said...

this is really beautiful. THanks.

Little Acorn Learning said...

Lovely as always!
xoxo

Anonymous said...

Shelley,

Your photographs are just so beautiful. You certainly have a eye for taking amazing pictures. I'm glad you had a lovely Martinmas. Take care.
-Roxana

onegoldensun said...

Gorgeous pictures. The row of paper lanterns is especially magical. I would love to know how to make those!

Anonymous said...

Have you ever considered selling a PDF photo tutorial of the star lanterns on ETSY????
Just a thought :)
I would be SO interested in one!

beachrose said...

Yes another here who would love to know how you made these lanterns. Beautiful!!!

beachrose said...

what I found

http://www.pacon.com/projects/PaperLanterns.htm

http://www.ehow.com/video_4436517_folding-points-paper-star-lantern.html

HTH

Velten said...

yesterday was martinmas and we enjoyed a lovely little lantern walk just after the sun set. ... 2lanterncandleholders.blogspot.com