St. Martin, Germany

An official from Germany (again :-) Well, i dont mind it at all as long as its from a place I dont have a card yet...I think ill more quickly manage to get a card from each German town than the Macedonian ones...true...

DE-177472

The town of St. Martin is surrounded by vineyards in the heart of the Central wine route.
The sender says that Weinstraße is a famous region in Germany and that there they have the typical half-timbered houses.

There is an interesting legend related to the name of St. Martin

St. Martin was a knight in Roman times who charitably cut his cloak into two with his sword and shared it with a beggar who was about to freeze to death. This memorable event is celebrated to this day in November, mainly in Southern and Western Germany. St. Martinstag is the 11th of November. The celebrations involve little kids walking around town at dusk on November 10th, carrying home-made lanterns. The lanterns used to be made from hollowed out beets with a face carved in, similar to what Americans do to pumpkins around Halloween. The kids parade through town singing traditional songs, sometimes accompanied by a St. Martin on a horse. In some regions the kids also go gripschen (grabbing) by singing songs in front of houses, and being rewarded with candies, apples and nuts.