On Sunday, November 13, 2011 a traditional German fest, St.Martin’s day, was held in Heidelberg-Center. The event was organized by the members of Young Leaders’ Club and German volunteers Kay and Mary together with the school children of the 9th Gymnasium (Simferopol). The festivity began with learning traditional German folk songs. Then it came to tasting traditional festive pastries and performing a scene from the legend of St. Martin (all characters were played by the school children). After that the procession went singing to the neighbouring houses to say greetings on St.Martin’s day. Following the tradition, the neighbors listened to the songs and gave sweets to the children. The festivity finished with joyful dances in the Heidelberg’s yard.
According to legend, when the legion led by Martin entered the French city of Amiens, at the gate they encountered a half-naked beggar. It was late autumn and the man was freezing, but the soldiers passed without noticing him . Martin was sitting on a horse in a beautiful long red coat. To the soldiers’ surprise, when Martin saw a freezing hungry beggar asking for alms, he ordered his legion to stop and drew his sword. The soldiers were perplexed. What is he going to do? Why is he unsheathing the sword in front of a helpless poor man? But Martin quietly took his coat with his left hand, cleaved it into two halves and gave one to the beggar. After that he took some bread out of his bag and handed it over to the pauper. The old man wanted to thank Martin, but he had already ridden into the city of Amiens.

As soon as Martin had an opportunity, he left his military service and became a monk. Saint Martin is honoured not only by the Catholics, but also by the Orthodox.