St. Martin's Weckmänn - November 11 - St. Martin of Tours (Martinmas)

Weckmänn means “watchman.” These little bread men have been keeping watch over the celebration of Martinmas in Germany since the Middle Ages and make a lovely accompaniment to Six-Can Soup. To help them look more like Saint Martin, bishop of Tours, they were baked holding a white clay pipe upside down to look like a bishop’s crosier. As Catholic bishops went out of style in Germany, the pipes got turned right side up so now they’re just a bread man holding a (small for us, but very big for him) pipe. The pipes can be found online, but could also be substituted with a cardboard or pipe-cleaner or candy cane version added on after baking. Either way they are sweet and orangey and adorably weird and I love them.