At another town, called Furnes,
there is also a procession of children, who carry paper lanterns, with
lighted candles in them, and march singing through the streets. The
same thing is done in the country round Bruges, where the children
visit the farm-houses at night, singing and asking for apples and
nuts.
There are cakes, called _gauffres_, which are often eaten on St.
Martin's Day, and are therefore sometimes called St. Martin's cakes.
That favourite saint is so much spoken of in connection with eating
good things that in the Valley of the Meuse they call him _le bon
vivant_, which means the person who lives well.
Just as in England bonfires are lighted on Guy Fawkes' Day, November
5, so in Belgium they light them on the evening of St. Martin's Day.
Indeed, they are known as St. Martin's fires, and the children call
lighting a bonfire "warming the good St. Martin."
About a month after St. Martin's comes the Day of St.
Nicholas--December 6. During the night before this saint is supposed
to ride through the sky, over the fields and above the housetops,
mounted on a donkey or a white horse, with a great basket stuffed
full of toys, fruit, sweetmeats, and other nice things.
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