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November 11: The Vinalia, a feast of the ancients, removed to this day. 
Bacchus in the figure of Martin.
From an old ecclesiastical calendar

 

St Martin of Tours

He refused military service

( died November 11, 397, feast day November 11.)

This saint is usually shown in art as a young mounted soldier and often shown renouncing the sword, for he decided at a young age that military service was contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. For his principles, he was thrown into prison.

Once, while on horseback in Amiens in Gaul (modern France), he encountered a naked beggar and impulsively cut his own military cloak in half and shared it. That night, Martin saw in a vision Jesus wrapped in the half of the cloak that he had given away. Jesus said to him, “Martin, yet a catechumen, has covered me with this garment”. At this point, Martin decided he was ready for baptism and holy orders. He became bishop of Tours, France in 371. His supposed coat became one of Christendom’s most sacred relics, held by the Merovingian kings of the Franks.

Once, while St Martin was at prayer in his cell, the devil came in without knocking, holding in his hand a horn covered with blood. “I've just killed one of your people,” Satan told the saint – indeed, the monastery's carrier had just been gored by a bull. At this, Martin resolved to fight the surrounding devils by destroying all the pagan temples in the district. He was soon seeing devils everywhere, and this enabled him to keep out of the way of his own devil. This is probably a piece of folklore that derives from the suppression in Europe of the pagan cult of Cernunnos, the Horned God.

The monastery that he founded, known in Latin as the 'Larger Monastery' or Maius monasterium became known as Marmoutier in later French. The words ‘chapel’ and ‘chaplain’ come from cappella, ‘short cloak’ in Latin. The men charged with preserving St Martin’s cloak, were called cappellani or ‘chaplains’ and from them was applied to the royal oratory that was not a regular church, the word ‘chapel’.  

Martin and the mule

Once, fourth-century saint Martin walked on a pilgrimage to Rome, meeting on the road Satan, who ridiculed him for not riding, as a bishop ought. Martin turned the Devil into a mule, then rode him, spurring the lazy beast on with the sign of the cross. The Devil cursed him with a Latin palindrome:

Signa te Signa: temere me tangis et angis:
Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor

meaning, Cross, cross thyself: thou plaguest and vexest me without necessity; for, owing to my exertions, thou wilt soon reach Rome, the object of thy wishes.  

Patronage
against impoverishment, against poverty, alcoholism, beggars (thus today is Beggars’ Day in the Netherlands), Burgenland, cavalry, equestrians, France, geese, horse men, horses, hotel-keepers, innkeepers, Mainz, Germany, quartermasters, reformed alcoholics, riders, soldiers, tailors, vintners, wine growers, wine makers  

 

 

Martinmas

Martinmas, or the feast day of St Martin, was in Europe the time of year for tasting the new season’s wine and for the killing of meat for Winter eating. In the European tradition, today marks the onset of Winter. In earlier days that distinction was given to October 31, or Halloween (originally called by the Celts Samhain), but in 1752 the calendar was altered by a few days. Before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in that year, Martinmas was celebrated on November 22.

Because of the christianisation of the Greek day of Dionysus, god of wine, also around November 11, the saint is closely associated with drinking, hence the expression Martin drunk. As fat geese were plentiful, on ancient clog almanacs the day was marked with the image of a goose. (A clog almanac was a primitive almanac or calendar, originally made of a 'clog', or log of wood. The sharp edge of each of its four faces was divided by notches into three months, every week being marked by a large notch. The face to the left of the notched edge contained the saints’ days, festivals, phases of the moon, and so on in Runic characters, for which reason the 'clog' was also called a Runic staff. More.) In Europe, today was the day for eating goose, but in Britain the day was Michaelmas (September 29).

As recorded by Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens (Oxford Companion to the Year, Oxford University Press, 1999), the breast bone of a goose that is eaten on the Feast of St Martin can be used as part of a weather prognostication. After the meat is eaten off it, the breast-bone is examined. If the bone is fair and clear, winter is likely to be cold and full of hard frosts. A thick and dark bone indicates that the winter will be full of snow, rain and sleet, although warmer in temperature.

Split-Stomach Day

Hiring fairs were held at this time, with their opportunities for agricultural labourers to gain better employment and the chance of a holiday. It was also called Pack-Rag day, because they carried their possessions with them to their new homes. Quarter Days such as Martinmas (February 1, Lammas and Halloween were others) were also times in which feudal taxes were collected. Until the 1920s, Martinmas was the high point of the farm labourer’s year in the north of England and was also known as 'Rive-kite’ or ‘Split-Stomach Day’ (or, Tear-Stomach Day), firstly because food was generally more plentiful than usual, and because labourers got their holidays at this time and might returned home, often to a family welcoming feast.  Animals were slaughtered Martinmas feasts as well as for salting as food for the Winter. In an old Celtic custom, some of the blood from the slaughter was spilt upon the ground or on the threshold as a protection for the year ahead, and after the slaughter the feast began. On Martinmas nothing involving a wheel was to be undertaken before midday. 

Martin and the goose

One day Martin was lecturing the folks in a village about their sinful ways and a goose started honking so loudly that it interfered with his speech. Not to be outdone, the good priest ordered the goose slaughtered, and then finished his sermon. Afterward the goose was cooked and served to him. St Martin choked to death eating the goose.

The associated precept from the Christian tradition teaches us to be very careful about how we treat our critics.

St Martin’s summer

A St Martin’s summer is a late spell of sunny weather. The term is English and it has equivalents in other Northern Hemisphere nations, such as Italy. 

It's also sometimes called 'Indian Summer', traditionally occurring between Martinmas and November 20. (However, Almaniac and Book of Days honorary checker, Diana Schuetz, writes: "Pip, Indian Summer in the US is warm days after about the 1st of October, depending, of course, on region. With the south, it's about the 15th of October, and in the north, it's about the 15th of September. The dictionary describes it as being 'a period of warm, dry weather in late autumn, especially in North America.' November in the US is definitely considered winter everywhere.")

Mart

In Scotland and the north of England, a fat ox used to be called a mart, because St Martin’s Day was the day to kill cattle for Winter food.

Martinmas and Vinalia

There is a resemblance between the Roman Vinalia, when wine-casks were broached, and St Martin’s Day when the same custom is practised. In the hall of the Vintners’ Company of London there were images of Martin and Bacchus, Roman god of wine, side by side.

Martin the exorcist

Born in Lower Hungary in about 316, and going on to become the Bishop of Tours, St Martin was made an exorcist by St Hilary. He was able to raise the dead. Once he went to a shrine and saw the ghost of a criminal appear from it. Knowing that the tomb held the bones of a robber and not a saint, St Martin ordered the shrine’s demolition.

Martlemas beef

St Martin’s Day, traditionally a time for killing meat for the long European Winter ahead, is also known as Martinmas or Martlemas. Martlemas beef was dried and smoked like bacon in the chimney.

Martin’s puddings

In Northumberland, England, rural families on St Martin’s Day gathered into a group called a mart, to buy a cow to kill for the long winter ahead. They filled its entrails with mince and blood, suet, groats and so on to make black puddings, which were given as presents.

Dionysian Martin

The ancient Greeks celebrated their devotion to Dionysus, their god of wine, beginning on the eleventh month of Anthesterion, which equates with our November. Consequently, St Martin’s Day is the time for tasting the new season’s wine. St Martin is the Christianisation of the ancient wine god.

What a goose

An old legend has it that St Martin, feeling unworthy, hid after being elected Bishop of Tours, but was discovered by a goose. This story no doubt comes from the Martinmas custom in Europe of eating gooseflesh, because geese are fat at this time of year.

Doing the St Martin

In France, St Martin’s Day feasting is called faire le Saint-Martin, doing the Saint Martin. It was this saint who converted the Gauls from paganism, but ancient November pre-Christian drinking rites continued through the cultus of today’s saint.

San Martino

In Italy, the feast day of San Martino (St Martin) is traditionally the special day to reopen government sessions and schools, and to sign leases. It is also a day for pastries, such as the butter-horn of Venice, the Sicilian sfinci (potato fritters) and the three-times-baked biscotti di San Martino, also from Sicily.  

La Festa di S. Martino a Venezia

Doing the St Martin in Venice, Italy

“[Children] have a tin and ask for money, and it is traditional on the day to have pastries in the shape of St Martin on his horse either made of shortcrust pastry or made out of a paste made with mele cotogne, which is those funny looking apples that look a bit like pears and have a strange tangy taste …

“In Venice and surrounding areas ‘Far San Martin’ (doing Saint Martin) was equivalent to ‘Far Massaria’ or move house, as it was typical to move to a new property on that day.

“These are some of the verses sung on St Martin’s day in Venice. Children would usually go from house to house, or shop to shop wearing a cape and beating on makeshift drums in order to get some treats. Unfortunately, such custom has nearly disappeared. All the verses are in the local dialect (Venetian).

 (Source: Almaniac Sylvia de Vanna in correspondence to Wilson’s Almanac, with much thanks)

New Year, Greece

In Greece, the church year starts today, St Martin’s Day.  

Goose-offal, anyone?

In Skane, southern Sweden, people hold Marten Gas parties on St Martin’s Day, enjoying roast goose stuffed with prunes, as well as a blood and goose-offal soup seasoned with ginger, pepper, sugar, apples and wine.

Martinsgans

In Germany, the Martinmas goose is called Martinsgans. St Martin’s Day is associated with the eating of goose flesh throughout Europe, though not particularly so in Britain where the practice is associated with St Michael’s Day, September 29.

German pageants

In Düsseldorf and Bonn, Germany, pageants are held today commemorating St Martin’s giving his cloak to a naked beggar, who turned out to be Christ. The day was a shepherds’ holiday, with Martin its patron. The shepherds negotiated contracts with their masters today. They would blow horns until the masters’ arrival, then present them with a martinsgerte, or decorated branch, and recite poems, for which they were rewarded with presents.

Martin Claus

In some parts of Germany on St Martin’s Day, Martinimann or Pelzmärte delivered presents like Santa Claus.

Martin’s songs

In an old German tradition, children on St Martin’s Day sing Martin’s songs (Martinslieder) and rhymes in exchange for gifts called Martinswecken or Martinsbretzeln, bread shaped as men with clay pipes. Carrying star-shaped lamps they would sing

Lantern, lantern
Sun, moon and stars
Burn up my light
Burn up my light
But don’t burn my dear lantern.

St Martin’s bird

The hen-harrier bird is called l’oiseau de Saint Martin, or St Martin’s bird, in France. It is seen about this time migrating through the country.

St Martin’s goose

An old French legend says that St Martin was once annoyed by a goose, so he ordered it killed and served to him for his dinner. So a goose is “sacrificed” to St Martin each year on his day. All over Europe, goose is the customary meal for today, mainly because the birds are plump and plentiful at this time of year.

Wroth silver – possibly Britain’s oldest ceremony

One English St Martin’s Day custom goes back at least 800 years. On this day near Dunchurch, wroth silver (wroth means money, a word related to worth) is paid to the Duke of Buccleuch. One of his ancestors made certain concessions to the people of 25 towns, but in return they have to pay him nine shillings and fourpence (or a “white bull with red nose and red ears”), which they drop into the hollow of a large stone. The participating towns’ representatives then all retire to an inn – formerly the Dun Cow Inn – for a breakfast at the Duke’s expense. Chambers writes:

To the philosophical student of history, and all who feel an interest in the progressive prosperity of our country, and the often slow and painful steps by which that prosperity has been reached, any custom, however insignificant in itself, which tends to throw light upon the doings of our ancestors, is of great interest.

But in our search after such landmarks, as it were, of our country's history, we are too apt to overlook what is most patent to us all, and so it is that a custom which, in all probability, obtained in the days of our Saxon forefathers, long before William of Normandy set foot upon our land, is at the present day carried on close to us, unheeded and unknown to the majority of our readers. The custom to which we refer is the payment to the Lord of the Hundred of Knightlow of Wroth or Ward money for protection, and probably also in lieu of military service.

The scene of these payments is Knightlow Cross, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, near Rugby, Warwickshire. Here, at the northern extremity of the village, in a field by what used to be the Great Holyhead Road, stands a stone, the remains of Knightlow Cross. The stone now to be seen is the mortice-stone of the ancient cross, and is similar to the stone still in existence at St. Thomas's Cross, between Clifton-upon-Dunsmore and Newton. The stone stands on a knoll or tumulus, having a fir-tree at either corner, and from it a fine view of the surrounding country is obtained; the spires of the ancient city of Coventry being plainly visible in the distance.

It is a singular circumstance, that the field in which it stands is a freehold belonging to a Mr. Robinson of Stretton, but the mound upon which the stone stands belongs to the Lord of the Hundred, his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry. The mound is an ancient British tumulus, one of a chain (still or very lately) to be traced from High Cross—the ancient Roman station Bennis—southward down the Foss Road. The intermediate links are at Walston Brinklow, near Wittingbrook and Cloudesley Bush, but the latter, we regret to say, has been removed.

Monday morning, the 11th of November 1862, was the day for the payment of this Wroth Silver, as it is called, and a drive in the gray light of a November morning, took us to the spot half an hour before sunrise, but not before groups of villagers and others had begun to collect to witness or take part in this curious old custom. The land.-agent of the lord of the hundred arrived soon after, and proceeded at once to read the notice requiring the payment to be made, proclaiming that in default of payment, the forfeit would be 'twenty shillings for every penny, and a white bull with red ears and a red nose.' The names of the parishes and persons liable were then read out, and the amounts were duly thrown into the large basin-like cavity in the stone, and taken from thence by the attendant bailiff. After the ceremony, the actors in the scene—that is, those persons, numbering about forty, who paid the money into the stone—proceeded to the Frog Hall, where a substantial breakfast was provided for them at the expense of the Duke of Buccleuch. There is a tradition in the neighbourhood of the forfeiture of a white bull having been demanded and actually made. Of this, however, there is no record, and it is certain that, of late years, the pecuniary part of the forfeit only has been insisted upon.

Respecting this custom, Dugdale, in his history of Warwickshire, gives the following account:

'There is also a certain rent due unto the Lord of this Hundred, called Wroth-money, or Wroth-money, or Swarff-penny, probably the same with Ward-penny. Denarii vicecomiti vel aliis castellanis persoluti ob castrorum presidium vel excubias agendas, says Sir H. Spelman in his Glossary, (fol. 565—566). This rent must be paid every Martinmas-day, in the morning, at Knightlow Cross, before the sun riseth: the party paying it must go thrice about the cross, and say, "The Wrath Money," and then lay it in the hole of the said cross before good witness, for if it be not duly performed, the forfeiture is 30s. and a white bull.'

Altogether, this custom forms a singular and interesting instance of a usage or rite surviving for centuries amidst revolutions, and civil wars, and changes of rulers and circumstances. Though its real origin has been lost, it still remains as a relic of feudal government, and may possibly be handed down to generations yet to come, as a memorial of a state of chronic warfare and depredation.
Robert Chambers, (Ed.), The Book of Days: A miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, etc, W & R Chambers, London, 1881 (1879 Edition is online and 1869 edition here with CD-ROM available; See also The English Year: A Personal Selection from Chambers' Book of Days)

 

Unanswered questions

"It is tantalising to speculate about the collection of Wroth Silver. When exactly did it start and what was it for? Why aren’t all the villages in Knightlow ‘called’ and what is the explanation for the surprising exceptions such as Ryton and Church Lawford close by, and important places like Southam further away? Why have the amounts stayed the same over the centuries? At what stage did the sum collected become ridiculously small and the ceremony cease to be a useful tax-gathering exercise? There are reports of grumbling and cursing from participants in 1722, and we know that contributions ceased to be compulsory in 1800; who resurrected the ceremony fifteen years later? Maybe it adds to the attraction that we don’t know all the answers. We can wonder at this mysterious link with our past, and join with other local parishes in performing what is thought to be Britain’s oldest ceremony.

References

Morris, J. (1976) Domesday Book: Warwickshire, Phillimore, Chichester.

Simpson, R. (1927) Collection of Wroth Silver, out of print, but extracts incorporated in Waddilove and Eadon (see below).

Waddilove, W. and Eadon, D. (1994) Wroth Silver today available from local bookshops or 162 Hillmorton Road, Rugby, CV22 5AL. Interested readers who want to know more are recommended to this booklet.”   Source

 

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In Ireland today is the ancient day of the Lunantishees, spirit guardians of the sacred blackthorn trees, or sloes. They allow no one to cut a sloe stick on today (the original November Day), nor on May 11 (the original May Day).

Einherjar, Asatru

Feast of the Fallen. Honours those who have fallen in battle and joined Wotan’s warriors in Valhalla. In the Asatru spiritual tradition, today commemorates the 432,000 spiritual warriors who guard the gods.

His Martinmas will come

An old English saying goes, His Martinmas will come, as it does to every hog, meaning, everyone must die. The Anglo-Saxons and other ancient and medieval Europeans used to slaughter beasts in November when fodder was used up and in preparation for a lean Winter.

Hiring fair

In England and Wales it was once an annual event that a fair was held on this day for the purpose of hiring servants and workers. The hiring fair was also called a statute or mop fair, the latter because people for hire wore a mop or tassel as a badge - carters wore a piece of whip cord, grooms a piece of sponge, shepherds a lock of wool, and so on. Those wishing to be hired stood in rows for inspection by employers.

Healing the insane

At Strathfillan in Scotland, mentally ill people used to be dipped today in the Holy Pool. After sunset the patients had to take three stones from the pool’s bottom, and walk around three cairns on the bank, then throw a stone at each cairn. They were then left overnight in the ruins of St Fillan’s Chapel, tied up on their backs. If they were found freed the next morning, God was thanked for a healing. Modern psychiatric practice is said not to derive from the practices at Strathfillan.

Beggars’ Day, the Netherlands

Today is St Martin’s Day, and Martin being the patron saint of beggars, children in the Netherlands go from door to door in imitation of mendicants.

Concordia Day

On the island state of Sint Maarten, today commemorates the partition of the island in 1648 between Holland and France. Today is also the day of St Martin, for whom the island was named.

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Quotes

If the geese at Martin’s Day stand on ice, they will walk in mud at Christmas.
English traditional proverb

If All Saints’ Day will bring out the winter, St Martin’s Day will bring out Indian summer.
American traditional proverb

Ice before Martinmas,
Enough to bear a duck.
The rest of winter,
Is sure to be but muck!
English traditional proverb

Expect St Martin’s summer, halcyon days.
Shakespeare, I Henry VI, I, ii. Unseasonable fine weather; Indian summer.

At St Martin’s Day
Winter is on his way.
French traditional proverb

‘Tween Martinmas and Yule
Water’s wine in every pool.
Scotch traditional proverb  

If ducks do slide at Hollantide
At Christmas they will swim.
If ducks do swim at Hollantide
At Christmas they will slide.
Winter is on his way
At St Martin’s Day.
English traditional proverb

Wind north-west at Martinmas, severe winter to come.
English (Huntingdonshire) traditional proverb

If it is at Martinmas fair, dry, and cold, the cold in Winter will not last long.
English traditional proverb

If the leaves of the trees and grape vines do not fall before Martin’s Day, a cold winter may be expected.
English traditional proverb

St Martin comes riding on a white horse.
German traditional proverb (snow comes)

Winter does not joke any more after St Martin’s Day.
German traditional proverb 

When Easter comes, who knows not then,
That veale and bacon is the man?
And Martilmass Beefe doth beare good tack,
When countrey-folke do dainties lacke.
Tusser, Thomas (1524 - 1580), Five hundreth pointes of good husbandrie: as well for the champion or open countrie, as also for the woodland or severall ; mixed in everie month with huswiferie, over and besides the booke of huswiferie, London: 'Printed in the now dwelling house of Henrie Denham in Aldersgate Street at the signe of the starre', 1586

To belly chear, yet once again,
  Doth Martin more incline,
Whom all the people worshippeth
  With roasted geese and wine.
Both all the day long, and the night,
  Now each one open makes
His vessels all, and of the must*
  Oft times, the last he takes,
Which holy Martin afterwards
  Alloweth to be wine,
Thereffore they him, unto the skies,
  Extol with praise divine.

* New wine not fully fermented
Neogeorgus (transl. by Barnaby Googe), of Germany’s traditions on Martinmas (late C15)

It is the day of Martilmasse
Cuppes of ale should freelie pass;
What though Wynter has begunne
To push downe the Summer sunne,
To our fire we can betake,
And enjoye the crackling brake,
Never heeding Wynter’s face
On the day of Martilmasse.
From Martilmasse Day [sic], old English ballad  

The eleventh day, Tuesday. St. Martin's Day. No miller sets a wheel in motion today; no more than a spinning woman would set a spinning wheel going; nor does the farmer put his plough-team to plough. No work is done in which turning is necessary. I do not know what this means, if it means anything.
Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin, Diary of an Irish Countryman, 1827-1835

They hang the man and flog the woman,
That steal the goose from off the common,
But let the greater villain loose,
That steals the common from the goose.
English rhyme, c. 1764

 

 

Leave me, my brothers, so that I may fix my eyes on heaven rather than on earth and set my soul on the path which leads to the Lord.
Dying words of St Martin of Tours

 

July 4 | Feast day of the Translation of St Martin of Bullion

July 4 is a feast day commemorating the day St Martin’s bones were relocated. An old proverb says that if the deer rise dry and lie down dry today, it was a sign of a good gose-harvest, gose being a name for the latter end of summer. In Europe it was generally believed that rain on this day foretold wet weather for the next twenty days.

 

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