Lampion for St Maarten

This weekend it's Sint Maarten. I live in The Netherlands and this children's fest isn't celebrated in the whole country, but only in some regions. Sint Maarten was the son of a rich man who shared half of his coat with a poor, coat- and shoeless man and therefore was named a saint.

The celebration that came out of this anecdote, are groups of children that trek along the houses in the neighborhood after dark with lights and lampions. They hope people want to share sweets and candies by singing Sintremaarten songs (short songs, of course, because they want to get as much sweets as possible, so the longer the song, the shorter the time left to go to other houses; for people who don't want to share sweets and candies are special songs, in which people are named greedy).  It's a bit like Halloween, but with songs and without the scary things.

The weeks before November 11, name day of Sint Maarten and therefore the day of celebration, children traditionally start to make lampions at school, but for the ones that aren't very good in crafting lampions are available everywhere. It's only for kids in elementary school. Unfortunately there are more and more reports about teenagers waiting for the young kids at the end of the evening to take away their bag of candies, so parents have to come along. Such a pity.  

I also made a lampion this year. Just for fun. It's made from two metal hoops with filet crochet in between and ribbons woven through the holes. Doesn't take very much time to make, so if all shops in your neighborhood are sold out, this is an alternative.

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My post about our road trip to Belgium and Germany was featured by April J Harris!

Thanks, April!