St. Maarten

Elf November is de dag

Dat mijn lichtje

Dat mijn lichtje

Elf November is de dag

Dat mijn lichtje branden mag

This season of celebrations reminds me of another one celebrated by the Dutch recently, St. Maarten (or St. Martin) on November 11th. Children would go out that evening, carrying lantern and sing a St Maarten song from door to door. In return the occupant would give them candy, sweets and sometimes oranges.

You see, the Dutch do not celebrate Halloween, they have St Maarten instead. The story of St Maarten is like this : One cold winter night, Maarten was going home and met a beggar who was very cold. He felt sorry for him, he tore his coat into two and gave one to the beggar.

So that evening, Ilham had a chance to go and collect candy with three Korean kids. He brought along the lantern which he made during Dutch class and manage to collect a whole bag of sweets and chocolates. In the meantime, we had a few kids who came and knocked on our door. They squealed with delight when we gave them the Halloween candy.