In Germany and Austria, November 11 is St. Martin's Day (Martinstag). St. Martin was a soldier in the fourth century who, according to legend, tore his cloak in half and gave it to a beggar. On St. Martin's Day children parade through the streets with paper lanterns, singing songs about St. Martin.
 |
| St. Martin's Day Parade in Mondsee, Austria |
In my classroom, though, it was Pepero Day! What's Pepero Day? It's relatively new holiday celebrated in South Korea. "Pepero" is the name of a cookie stick dipped in chocolate. The sticks look like the number "1", so 11/11 is Pepero Day.
One of my students brought boxes of Pepero for the whole class. My fifth graders decided that we should continue the "11" pattern, and eat our Pepero sticks at 11:11 A.M. When I told them it was exactly 11:11, they spontaneously started counting, and it wasn't until they reached eleven that they began eating the Pepero.
So, if anyone asks me what I was doing at 11:11 with eleven seconds on November 11, 2011, I can tell them...I was eating chocolate.
At 11:11am on 11/11 carnival season started :) You must be in the "wrong" part of Germany or you would have been served a nice, cold beer instead of chocolate sticks :) ... even though they look kind of yummy too! :)
ReplyDelete@Sabrina--I think you are right! Next year I need to find the "right" place to spend November 11!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like fun and a great memory. I had wanted Janette to be born on 11/11/11, but she had other ideas.
ReplyDelete@Jan What would be the "right place"? Maybe a war cementary in France? Just asking since I recently made my mind up about 11/11 http://exkommuniziert.blogspot.com/2011/11/wichtige-daten.html
ReplyDeletePepero = Pocky! Pocky is a favorite of mine from, well, everywhere. I used to get it all the time back in the US, and when I was in Hong Kong, there were flavors I'd never even imagined.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky
I'm gonna have to check out Pepero to see if it's just as tasty. :)
We celebrated "Mortens Aften" in DK as well... which the Danes CHANGED .. it is also about "Martin" but they changed his name in the 1600s! :-)
ReplyDelete@Jennifer--LOL! If only you could plan those things!
ReplyDelete@Andreas--I forgot Armistice Day! It's a lot more important than Pepero, but not as tasty. :-)
@Steven--from what I have heard, it's the same thing. I only had chocolate, but the kids told me there are lots of different kinds!
@Kelli--very cool! Do the kids have a parade with lanterns, too?