Celebrating Martinmas in Southeastern Michigan
/By Nancy Carpenter, Detroit, MI
Along with the various Advent Gardens, Christian Community and Branch offerings during Advent, Christmas and the Holy Nights, the Southeastern Michigan lyre players added one more event to our busy schedules. Mary Lynn Channer invited Michael Brewer, Nancy Carpenter and Sandra McClure to join her and Deborah Wheelihan-Dasher, Suki Dasher and Christina Matesz in playing for the 2016 Martinmas festival at the Channer home on November 11th in Lambertville, MI.
We had seven lyres and a chrotta playing together in various combinations in the space formerly known as the Waldorf Kindercottage. We played the Nilsson Kanon and the Brahms Waltz in G arranged for lyres by Michael Brewer to an enthusiastic audience. The Saint Martin story was told by Luke Dasher, a young man who had been a student at the Kindercottage many years earlier. After a hearty pot luck meal we lit our lanterns and walked around the Channers' labyrinth; the heartier folk then sojourned into the nearby woods for the yearly lantern walk. It was a lovely addition to the beginning of this special season.
