Lanterns, Singing, and Sweet Bread Men

November 9, 2020 Anika Rieper

It is November and in Germany you can see children walking through the streets holding paper lanterns and singing songs. In many cities, especially in the Catholic regions, you can witness a man with a red cloak riding in a horse ahead of the children’s parade. The parade might end at a church, or at a bonfire.

In other cities children also walk around with their lanterns but they go from door to door, sing a song and receive a treat from the people they sang for.

Some bakeries are busy during this time baking Martinsbrezel, Weckmänner, and Stutenkerle, and families are preparing a feast of goose.

So, what is going on?

Well, there are multiple traditions that are at play here and it depends largely on the region which traditions you follow and what pastry you eat if any. There is one common thread though that runs through all of it: Laternenumzüge or Lantern Parades.

Laternen und Laternenumzug

November is the end of the harvest and sowing season and the start of the colder and darker season. Coinciding with the darker and shorter days, people during this time would conduct Feuerbräuche (fire customs) and have bonfires on the night before a feast or holiday. Linked to this is the custom of making Jack-o-lanterns or Rübengeister (turnip ghosts), not with pumpkins but with turnips.

There are still some regions where children hollow out a turnip, light a candle in it, and carry it during the parade. But most often children carry a paper lantern.

Lanterns, made from paper, are related to the Rübengeister, maybe we can call them the modern version. Children in preschools and elementary schools make their lanterns in school and then walk in a parade through the streets of their city. Sometimes it is done on a large scale with many kids and parents, but smaller communities may have a shorter parade. We also need to remember that many of the children are young, and in November it can be pretty cold.

There are also many Laternenumzüge which take place in September or October. Often these parades are accompanied by the Spielmannszüge (marching band) and/or the band of the Fire Department.

If you can’t make your own lantern, you can also buy one in the store along with an LED light attached to the stick that the children are holding. This has become the most common method to light your lantern in recent years. When I went on my Laternenumzug in the 80s it was real candles that lit up your candle.

But what about the man on the horse with the red cloak, you might ask.

Saint Martin or Sankt Martin

It is Saint Martin.

Born in 316 in Savaria (now Hungary), Martin was a Roman soldier before he converted to Christianity, which was still relatively new at the time. Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire just in 313, so pagan and the Roman beliefs were still very prevalent when Martin became a monk and later a bishop.

While he was a soldier in Gaul (nowadays France), Martin encountered a barely clothed beggar in the cold. He took his sword and cut his cloak in half to give to the beggar. In a dream that night, he saw Jesus Christ with half of his cloak. In another version of the legend, Martin finds his cloak magically whole again the next morning. Either way, the story of St. Martin sharing his cloak is a sign of compassion. This is also the story that we see depicted in sculptures and art and coloring pages for children.

There are many more stories surrounding St. Martin, written down and creatively told by his biographer Sulpicius. Most of the stories revolve around St. Martin performing miracles, helping the poor, and proving his faith.

In one such story, Martin had a pagan temple destroyed but when he wanted to cut down an ancient holy pine tree the villagers refused. Martin convinced them to cut down the tree by saying that he would stand exactly where the tree was supposed to fall. The villagers agreed and the tree miraculously missed Martin. Sulpicius might have taken this story from Horace’s Odes.

In 371, St. Martin was declared bishop of Tours, and he slowly expanded the church’s reach by implementing a rudimentary parish system and founding monasteries. He would travel on foot, by boat and donkey to visit all the parishes once a year. The authorities didn’t like to see him coming to their towns because Martin always asked to have prisoners released, and they couldn’t refuse him.

St. Martin died on November 8th, 397 and was laid to rest on November 11th which is his Feast Day. He was sanctified by the Catholic Church as a confessor and not martyr.

When a community combines the light or lantern procession with the legend of St. Martin they will normally do the Laternenumzug on or around November 11th. A person volunteers as St. Martin and rides on a horse in the parade, dressed like a Roman soldier. In some cities, he might encounter a beggar and he’ll cut his cloak in half.

Sidenote: Chaplain and Chapel

The cloak (cappa Sancti Martini) as well as the body of Saint Martin became a relic, oaths were sworn on it, and there was a priest who took care of the Martin’s cloak. He was called cappallanu, and the name was eventually applied to all priests who had been in the military. From the word cappallanu derived the French and English word chaplain.

But the semantic connection doesn’t stop there. In the 7th century, a little church was built to hold St. Martin’s cloak, and they called it capella, little cloak. Those small churches holding relics became common throughout Europe and served as pilgrimage destinations for Christians. In English, we use the word chapel and in German Kapelle.

Martinstag or Martini

November 11th, called Martinstag, Martini or St. Martin’s Day, used to be the day when taxes and tithes were due, when new contracts were made, and when masters gave their farmhands (Knechte und Mägde) small presents. Today, children may receive a pastry or small presents on November 11th, either at school or when they sing Martin’s songs at their neighbors’ houses, but it depends entirely on the region.

Martinsgans

Many people eat a goose, the so-called Martinsgans, on Martin’s Day. The connection between Martin and a goose has different explanations.

When the Catholic Church wanted St. Martin to become bishop of Tours they had to trick him to come to Tours so they could consecrate him. Martin tried to hide because he didn’t want to be a bishop. However, the geese in whose stable he hid gave him away with their cackling.

In a different story, Martin was interrupted in a sermon by geese, so as punishment they ended up in the oven.

Is any of this true? It is hard to say. We do know though that November is also the time when geese start to migrate, and the beginning of November might be the last chance to eat a goose before it flies south. Speaking of feasts, November 11th also marked the last day before the 40 days of fasting before Christmas. So, you should definitely make the best of it.

Martinslieder

As I mentioned before, during the parade with their lanterns, the children sing songs. There are songs that tell the story about St. Martin and the cloak-sharing. Those songs are sung in areas that include St. Martin in their parade, mostly in the Catholic regions.

Since Protestants don’t accept saints, they naturally do not refer to St. Martin in their parades though most Protestants know of St. Martin and his cloak-sharing. In some Lutheran regions, you might find that the parade is connected to November 10th or 11th because it is the day Martin Luther was born and baptized.

Having grown up in northern Germany, there never was a connection between the Laternenumzug and St. Martin or Martin Luther. It was something we did during the dark time of November.

Here are some typical songs that are sung during the lantern parade. The following video is a newer Laternelied.

Martinssingen

Martinssingen or Martin’s Singing is a Heischebrauch or Heischegang which translates to cadging custom. What that means is that children go from door to door, sometimes dressed up, often singing songs. At every house they will receive a treat or sometimes money for a charitable cause.

Local names I have found for this are: Schnörzen, Gripschen, Dotzen (Rhineland), and Mätensingen (Bergisches Land).

Children go from house to house and sing a specific song, often in dialect, and receive candy or other small gifts. Sometimes they have lanterns but it isn’t a requirement.

I didn’t even know Martinssingen was a thing until I moved from Schleswig-Holstein to Hanover in Lower Saxony. On November 11th, my door bell rang and there was a boy singing a song “Matten Matten Meeren”. I had no idea what was going on and had to ask him what I was expected to do. I gave him an apple, not sure he was too happy with it, but it was the sweetest thing I had.

Martinsbrezel, Weckmann, and Stutenkerl

We already talked about the Martinsgans that many people eat on November 11th. So, what is the deal with the pastry and why do they have so many different names?

First off, a Martinsbrezel is a sweet yeast dough Brezel, meaning it has the traditional pretzel shape. Bakeries in certain areas (Rheinland, south) bake hundreds of Martinsbrezel, others make little men out of dough, and some make little geese.

The pastry pretzel is the one I made following the recipe by Preppie-and-me. Sure it’s not as pretty but it tasted really good. Click here for the recipe in English.

Kids may receive a Martinsbrezel after the Laternenumzug at the church or the bonfire. In some areas the Brezel are passed out at school. The same goes for the Weckmann or Stutenkerl, it’s handed out at school, at the bonfire, or you can just buy it at the bakeries. The little yeast man as the name suggests is a man formed out of sweet yeast dough, has raisins for eyes and coat, and often has a clay pipe. In other areas like Bavaria, people also bake geese with the same kind of dough.

I have a map here from Atlas-Alltagssprache where you can see the different names according to region. Two names that aren’t included are: Martinsweck and Ditz.

The two most common names are Stutenkerl (more towards the North) and Weckmann (South-West). But how did they get their names, and why does he have a clay pipe?

Stuten is the low German word for sweet bread often made with raisins. It has nothing to do with the German word Stute (mare). And Kerl means guy or lad, and sounds a bit rougher than Mann. Männchen means little man and if you use that, the whole word sounds cuter.

Weckmann or Weckmännchen also refers to the dough. Weck is a sweet dough, and in the South-Western regions of Germany a Wecken is a Brötchen or a roll. In Austria and South-East Germany it is a bread loaf.

But whatever you call it and whenever you eat it, it’s basically the same thing. Click here for Christina’s recipe in English.

Depending on your region, you might buy a Weckmann not on St. Martin’s Day but on St. Nicholas Day on December 6th. Especially in the protestant areas, you find the Stutenkerl more often in December.

Some sources say that the dough man was originally intended to be either Sankt Nikolaus or his mean helper Knecht Ruprecht or Krampus. (This is another person and tradition that varies greatly in name and custom.) St. Nicholas was the bishop of Myrna and therefore looks similar to St. Martin.

St. Nick is sometimes accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht or Krampus who will beat or, in some areas, put the naughty kids in a sack. In one theory, the pipe that the Weckmänner have was originally a Rute (switch) that lost its meaning.

Others say that the pipe is an upside down bishop’s staff. After the Reformation many symbols of the Catholic Church, like a bishop’s staff, were secularized, and the staff became a pipe.

Or maybe a baker ran out of the material he used for the staff and got some clay pipes from the pipe maker next door. From the 17th to the middle of the 18th century, people commonly used clay pipes to smoke.

If you don’t want to order the pipes, you can bake your Weckmännchen without. It’ll taste the same since the pipes are actually made of clay.

In the sources I have included links to my youtube channel playlist with more videos about lanterns, St. Martin’s Day, and songs. My pinterest board has some of the same videos but also photos and images, coloring pages and recipes.

Let me know how the baking, crafting, and singing went.

Sources and Resources

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne Laterne Laternelaufen Martinsbrezel Martinstag Weckmann

More than Beer and Schnitzel