"Kolokotronis -- does your family do skylarks on the feast?"
I know the family in Greece does, but I haven't seen them (except in Greece) since I was quite little.
I'm astonished that Protestants tell this story of the 40 Martyrs.
Well, in the version I read, there wasn't anything miraculous that happened -- just the forty being sent out onto the ice to freeze to death, one giving up and renouncing Christ, and a soldier being so moved by the love for Christ that the other 39 had that he went out to take the place of the apostate. In this version, they all just froze to death. The emphasis was on their determination not to renounce Christ and their willingness to do this even unto death. Still a beautiful and moving story even in that form.