A Family Giving Project
October 9, 2009 by AngelaM
Martinmas Celebration…A Family Giving Project
On November 11th, countries around the world will celebrate Martinmas, the holiday honoring St. Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier-turned monk. According to legend, St. Martin came upon a scantily clad beggar one night in the snow, and having nothing to offer, he took his sword and cut his cloak in half to share with the man. That night, St. Martin had a dream in which Christ was wearing half a cloak and said, “Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized; he has clad me.” The next day, Martin ran to be baptized and became a Christian.
In European counties today, festivities range from children parading with paper lanterns behind a man dressed as St. Martin to families eating a feast featuring goose, but the heart of the story is selfless generosity.
Why not hold your own spin-off on Martinmas and round out the celebration with a new tradition that will foster warm, giving hearts in your family?
Here are some ideas to get you started:
On or near Martinmas, read the story of Martin of Tours.
You can read about his life here. When discussing the story, be sure to also read Matthew 25: 31-40.
Make paper bag luminaries to line your walkway.
Before you start your craft, read Matthew 5:14-16.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
You can discuss different ways to let your light shine before men as you work.
First, take a lunch-sized paper bag and punch holes or cut shapes out of it.
Then, place about two inches of sand in the bottom and sit a tea light or votive candle on top.
When you light the candle, the light will peek through the holes you’ve made in the bags.
No celebration is complete without a traditional meal!
You may not want to serve a cooked goose, but how about a shepherd’s pie or beef stew? Whatever you decide on, consider serving the same thing each year. For dessert, you can use slice and bake cookie dough to create horseshoe-shaped cookies, like they do in Poland. These represent St. Martin’s horse.
Start your family giving project!
After you’ve had your fill of feasting, get out papers and pens and begin brainstorming. With input from your children, settle on a project that you will do this holiday season.
Some starter ideas:
- Bake cookies, breads, or other baked goods and deliver together to a local soup kitchen or food ministry.
- Enlist your children in gathering clothes and blankets to give away. Go together to a local homeless shelter or family service agency and deliver the goods.
- Start a knitting or sewing project to make blankets, hats, and scarves for the homeless.
- Hold a lemonade stand or bake sale to raise money for the needy in your area.
- Volunteer your time at a soup kitchen or food pantry.
- Make Martinmas the day you kick off a longer term family service project! Secretly adopt a needy family for the holiday season. You may bring them a holiday meal, purchase or make gifts, offer babysitting, send kind notes, and more. Don’t forget to pray for your family daily!
Happy Martinmas!
Angela Mills homeschools her two amazing girls. When she’s not dreaming up her next organizational system (the one that will really work this time!), she loves to spend time with her husband of nine years. She is seriously addicted to reading, Lost, and Burt’s Bees lip balm. She’s been a working mom, stay at home mom, stepmom, and is occasionally a weird mom, or so her kids tell her. You can catch her blogging at Homegrown Mom.
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Janice Kaiser on Fri, 9th Oct 2009 2:35 pm
This is a great idea. However, being the patron of Soldiers, it is a good time to combine this tradition with honoring our soldiers…the ones who have returned and the ones still serving. Perhaps you could invite the family of a deployed soldier over for dinner on Martinmass and have the paper luminaries lighting your pathway as they arrive? Great way to honor St. Martin and all our military.
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Denise M on Fri, 9th Oct 2009 5:51 pm
I really became aware of the celebration of the feast last year. I was very intruiged because my husband has Polish and German heritage. In Germany and Poland this is very much a day to be celebrated.
Then, I realized that the feast of St. Martin lands on Veteran’s Day here in the US (Armistice Day in Europe). I think it would be lovely to remember our soldiers in a special way that day be it a special prayer for them that day, flying the Stars and Stripes, sending some cards via http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html there is also the USO http://uso.org/
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rachel on Mon, 12th Oct 2009 10:53 am
This is a great opportunity to start teaching your children the importance of compassion and giving back. For more ideas and information on getting your family started volunteering together, check out Doing Good Together (doinggoodtogether.org).
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