St. Martin's Day nights before and on the night of Nov. 11, children walk in processions carrying lanterns, which they made in school, and sing Martin songs. The day is celebrated on the evening of November 11 in a small part of Belgium (mainly in the east of Flanders and around Ypres). Children go through the streets with paper lanterns and candles, and sing songs about St. Martin. Sometimes, a man dressed as St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession. In some areas, there is a traditional goose meal, although in West Flanders there is no specific meal; in
St. Martin's Day was collected and sprinkled on the four corners of the house. Also in Ireland, no wheel of any kind was to turn on St. Martin's Day, because Martin was thrown into a mill stream and killed by the wheel and so it was not right to turn any kind of wheel on that day. In Northern Ireland the village and surrounding parish of Desertmartin owes its name to Saint Columba (also referred to as Colmcille) who visited there in the sixth century. He erected a church there as a retreat and named it in honour of St. Martin. Hence the