Sunday, November 11, 2012

St. Martin's White Horse

st. martin's day festival at jiriho z podebrad in prague czech republic, 2012
St. Martin rode in on a white horse today at Jiřího z Poděbrad, at exactly 11:11 on 11/11. No snow arrived with him,* just the new wine carried with medieval pomp and basketry to be presented to the crowd.

And what a crowd it was! Hundreds of people came out for the festival, and even at 11 most were already testing the new wine, drinking from glasses hung around their necks. We carried our bottles home with us, but before we left we sampled the music and the freshly made potato chips, and of course watched St. Martin arrive in style.

*According to Central European tradition, St. Martin's white horse ushers in the first snow of the season.

4 comments:

deedee said...

I'd never heard of the tradition before. But I'd be okay if the cold stayed away a few more weeks :)

Roderick Robinson said...

What's the nosh?

Julia said...

Thinly sliced potatos, deep fried into potato chips (bramborove spiraly) while you wait.

Anonymous said...

What a cool tradition. We have our first flakes today.