Mantepeirden and klaaskoeken

In a magazine from 1879,¹⁵ a correspondent writes that on Saint Martin (which falls on 11 November) he was visited by singing boys carrying lanterns made of carved beetroot (beets). The song mentions the baking of waffles and the eating of koek.

That koek is not peperkoek this time but mantepeird, translated as ‘man on horse’, depicting Saint Martin on a horse in sweet enriched bread dough. It is a custom from c