Martinstag at Willow Cottage Farmoor

Following on from the announcement of this year’s three chosen charities, SeeSaw, Sands and Helen House, we are excited to let you know that our first fundraising event at Farmoor was Martinstag. At Willow Cottage we have several families (and Nat Litzka of Farmoor’s Kindergarten of course) with German heritage and to celebrate our diversity we chose to celebrate Martinstag (Also known as St Martins day or the Feast of Saint Martin).

We have been busy decorating our orchard garden with lights and lanterns and in return for a small donation we invited our Farmoor parents to come and have a walk with their child at collection.They also enjoyed the spectacle and a warm hot chocolate at the end!

Martinstag is widely celebrated in Germany on 11th November and the legend is that St Martin once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm. Thereby saving the beggar from the cold, the legend is well known to children in all parts of Germany. The nights before and on the night of November 11th, children walk in processions carrying lanterns. The procession often ends in the village square for warm drinks and pretzels. The lantern procession symbolises the light that holiness brings to the darkness, just as St. Martin brought hope to the poor through his good deeds.

Forty or so families came to share the experience and some of them even came twice. The afternoons were a relaxed affair with children and adults enjoying a warm hot chocolate and biscuits made by the children after a stroll around the orchard. The Kindergarten made their own lanterns for their procession through the orchard. They then enjoyed choosing where to hang them in the garden, and then carried them as they took their parents, friends and relatives to explore the sensory light experience created in the orchard as the sun went down.

So far they have managed to raise £180 for the chosen charities and they all had a magical and memorable event. Well done Ruth, Julie, Sharon, Nat and all the team for their hard work and thank you also to all the parents that attended for your support and your generous giving.