World leaders have been meeting and attending the anniversary of the signing of the armistice of World War I. This is an important one. No veterans are alive and it is 100 years to the day since the war to end all wars ended. When I tune in to a British channel, coverage of remembrance services seem to be wall to wall. Facebook profiles are showing temporary profile pictures with poppies on them. In Munich not a sausage, except for loads of sausages, I’ve been eating out!  And I had this post in mind as soon as I realised to book a trip to Germany for this weekend. It’s something I wanted to write about and knew it would be difficult to measure it and find the right tone.

November 11th is Saint Martin’s day in Germany. I found that out when I left the hotel today with no plan in mind. In the main square people where carrying lanterns which were many and varied, and almost all using LED lights and not candles. There’s a woman on a horse dressed as a Roman centurion (not the horse, before you ask), for reasons that are not very clear, because Martin le Miséricordieux was a man. Then it goes in to legend that during a snowstorm he tore his cloak in half to give to a beggar, which saved his life. During the night Martin had a dream of Jesus wearing half a cloak and telling him he was baptised. One thing led to another, and legends spread around Europe leading him to be the patron saint of poor people. These legends even spread to what is now Britain, but I’ve never head of him.

The thought occurred to me that they don’t have Remembrance Sunday because their diary was full and Britain had room in it’s calendar in two years after the end of the war. But other European countries tend to let their holy days fall when ever they fall during the week, so this one moves around. This one isn’t a holiday, but in Britain we move them around to Fridays and Mondays so we can have a holiday. So, St Martin’s day falling on a Sunday is something that happens every now and then.

I don’t travel as much as I should have done, but when you visit a continental European country your probably going to see some type of religious festival, that just happens to to match a cycles of the moon, or a harvest. This one is no exception.

I like the idea that people can join other people on several days in the year. This like many others is “for the children” and has probably changed over the years, with the real reasons. The main theme is that it’s nice to be nice. Then there’s the little detail about the completion of the autumn seed sowing and the last slaughtering of the cattle. But it’s for the kids.

The connection with our environment is very important to keep in mind as we are losing this year after year. We are also losing real connections with our communities too. On line just isn’t the same. We humans need communities to belong to, but in the modern world this seems to have turned in to identity politics, where people with obvious and not so obvious differences from other people form virtual identities to defend their interests.

I haven’t given my views on Remembrance Sunday and the month that precedes it. I’m ducking out of this one. I’ve gone over my word limit. That’s a shame.