Feast of St. Martin

St. Martin is a patron saint of the poor and outcast. As legend tells, the soldier Martin discovered a poor beggar one night, shivering, and cold. Martin gave the man half his cape for warmth. The next night, he dreamt that he saw Christ wearing the same piece of his cape. After that, he spent the rest of his life serving those in need, bringing light and warmth to those in darkness. November 11th is his feast day, originally celebrated in many French households with a festival of lanterns.

From the Rhythm of the Home Blog.

See all my links about this feast on Pinterest and Diigo.

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The St. Martin’s Lanterns we did last year:
St. Martin shared his heavy cloak with the beggar in need of some warmth. And thus was born the tradition of children and Christians carrying beggars’ lanterns around on the feast of the saint in honor of this noble deed.

Most of the web sites I looked at for this make paper lanterns, but I wanted something that I could put outside this evening that wouldn’t get easily blown about in the Ohio wind.  So we opted for autumn lanterns made from glass Ball jars.

We started with fall colored tissue paper torn into different sizes and shapes.

Then we used Mod Podge to glue the papers to the jars.
I used rafia to tie around the tops of the jars in a decorative bow. Twine was tied on each side of the jar to the rafia for a handle.

 
A votive candle is fastened inside the jar with a bit of wax – and voila! Lanterns suitable for hanging, setting on the table or placed outside.