St. Maarten, celebrated on November 11 (or sometimes the night before) is a celebration of goodness and humility. It is especially famous in Groningen, Drenthe, Noord-Holland (West Friesland), Brabant and Limburg
St. Maarten is based on a legend. Martinus (Martin) was born in the year 316 in what today is known as Hungary. He died on November 11, 397 and on the feast of this saint it is customary to give children candy - just like in Halloween.
The festival is actually a 'festival of lights' for children.
The tradition is that children themselves make a lantern from paper, cardboard, sugar beet or a hollowed pumpkin with a candle inside and then they go from houses to houses. At the door they will sing you a song in return for candies.
This year, though, those who celebrated St. Maarten yesterday night were lucky. The weather today for the Netherlands is not good. It is now, as I'm writing this, very windy and raining quite hard. The celebration may even (or should) be canceled because this is not the weather for kids to be wandering around outside just to get a few candies.
Links:
Photo's from Dagblad, 2010
Koninklijke Bibliotheek - National Library of the Netherlands
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