St. Martin's Day

Yesterday I went to the Altstadt with the group to walk the streets with thousands of people (half of them being kids) to celbrate St. Martin's day. THis has something to do with a man on a horse and a begger and a guy from Russia. I think. I am not really sure, but the people all carry little lanterns that are quite special and they follow the men on horses through the street. It was quite festive with brass ensembles playing and people singing outloud. I thought it was a bit like a funeral procession but it didn't go over well when I suggested this. So, the funniest part when was the really pretty girls from Italy were walking backwards, taking a picture (they took many pictures) and they walked over a pile of horse dodo (we all know this word in German, the funnest swear word to say but can you spell it...). Anyway, I was Glüklich and missed the pile. It smelled terrible. It was quite funny, I thought. It was my first feeling of 'schadenfreude' actually experienced in Germany. Of course the Germans would have a word for this. At least no one was hurt.