Free Republic

If you’ve ever been out on the streets in Germany on a Nov. 11 evening, you’ve most likely seen crowds of children marching through the streets carrying lanterns and chanting. It’s what we do on St. Martin’s Day, and a beloved childhood memory for most of my fellow Germans as well as myself. St. Martin was a Roman soldier born in modern-day Hungary between 316 and 336 A.D. who spent most of his adult life in France and eventually was baptized and became a monk. There are various legends surrounding his life, but one of the most prevalent – and...

Some primary schools and daycare centres in the region of Dusseldorf, Germany have renamed the Christian festival of Saint Martin’s the ‘festival of lights’ to appease the children of Turkish immigrants and newly arrived ‘refugees’. The Acting Headmistress of Salesian Montessori Community School in Oberkassel, Nanette Weidelt, told the Rheinische Post that the new name had been adopted, “in order to facilitate integration”.

Several schools in Germany have canceled an annual Christian celebration named after Saint Martin and replaced it with the more generic and secular festival of lights in consideration of the feelings of thousands of Muslims who have migrated to the country in recent days. On top of that, numerous Dusseldorf daycare centers have outright abolished the celebration altogether, due to consideration for the refugees, Infowars reported, citing the Epoch Times.