While Americans traditionally honor veterans on November 11, Europeans celebrate the warrior St. Martin. Also known as Martinmas, it is the day when your goose is cooked.
Martinmas grew out of Celtic harvest festivals associated with fire, blood, geese, swallows, horses, and spiders.
Martin—Saint and Warrior
Martin of Tours (d. 397 AD) was a nobleman and Roman officer born in the Celtic motherland along the Danube River.
According to Christian legend, his cavalry outfit transitioned from physical to spiritual warfare. He was thus influential in the Christianization of northern Gaul (modern day France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland). Baptized as an adult, he eventually became a bishop.
A popular legend associated with Martin is that he tore his cloak to share it with a freezing beggar, who later revealed himself to be Jesus. Thus, begging is a cornerstone of Martinmas.
In Germany, for instance, children go door-to-door begging prayers for the dead in return for sweets. They also participate in lantern-lit processions. Led by a man dressed as a Roman soldier on horseback, the parades culminate in bonfires.
In the 15th century, bonfires were so numerous that the festival was nicknamed Funkentag (Spark Day). As recently as the 19th century, young people danced around the fire, leapt through the flames, and strewed the ashes on the fields to make them fertile. This practice is emblematic of Celtic fire festivals.
In the Julian calendar, St Martin’s Day coincides with the Celtic festival of Samhain (Halloween), which celebrates the dead. This conflation of life and death was typical of ancient agricultural people.
Today, a popular treat on St. Martin’s Day is the Weckmann, a sweet bread shaped like a man to resemble St. Martin.
In the sky, Martinmas coincides with the appearance of Orion, a warrior and herdsman. His arrival indicated that the warfare season was over and the time had come to move livestock from pasture to winter quarters.
St. Martin died when he was crushed between two mill wheels. It was believed that bad luck would fall on anyone who worked a mill, turned a spinning wheel, or yoked a horse-and-cart on St. Martin’s Day.
Blood Fest
On Martinmas Eve, Celtic housewives stood on the doorstep at sundown and slit the throat of a sheep, ox, pig, or fowl to protect the household from faeries and other malevolent forces. Since this ritual was once part of Samhain, the day is also known as Old Halloween.
After spilling the blood in the four corners of the house, the Irish Celtic housewife would anoint family members on the forehead with it to keep them safe from disease, death, and evil spirits during the coming winter. The custom persisted long into the 20th century in many places, and even into the 21st in some parts of the west of Ireland.
Geese
Another custom associated with Martinmas is eating goose at a special meal, called the Martinsgans. According to legend, the archbishop of France chose St. Martin for promotion to bishop. Eschewing the profile and responsibilities of an administrator, St. Martin hid himself in a goose shed. A squawking gaggle of geese gave him away, thus forcing him to accept the position. Perhaps in revenge, St. Martin declared that geese should be served on November 10 (Martinsgans Eve).
A different justification is that November 11 was tax day for medieval vassals, and peasants often paid with a goose.
There is a more traditional reason for eating goose on November 11. The German festival of Schlachtfest (slaughter fest) in mid-November was the day people butchered geese and pigs, which were then preserved with salt for the winter.
The game Duck, Duck, Goose may have originated with this ritualistic slaughter. Tapping the players’ heads may relate to the housewife dripping blood on her children’s heads to protect them from death, disease, and bad luck. Or perhaps the random designation of “goose” was a warning to those who didn’t paying their taxes.
In parts of Ireland, the Martinmas cockerel (rooster) is killed on St. Martin’s Eve. On the Isle of Man, a hen is sacrificed on St. Catherine’s Day(November 25). The bird was then eaten at a special meal.
This bird-slaughtering tradition followed the colonists from the Old World to the New. It is recognized today as Thanksgiving.
Martins and Swallows
St. Martin is also associated with the bird family Hirundinidae, which includes martins and swallows. These are migratory birds who often leave for their winter havens by November 11.
Swallows are often associated with protection, safe homecoming, and navigation. Sailors often sport swallow tattoos for good luck. Because swallows are land-based, encountering one at sea meant that land was close. Martins are similarly connected with good luck and safe passage.
Horses
St. Martin was a member of the elite Roman cavalry who dominated the upper echelons of the military. They were associated with the cult of Epona, a Celtic horse-goddess. Known as Equites, these horsemen gave rise to the European knights of the Middle Ages.
A superstition in County Wexford, Ireland, warns against putting out to sea on Martinmas, as St. Martin is said to ride a white horse across Wexford Bay. Anyone who sees him will drown.
Spiders
Just as Americans define Indian summer as a period of unseasonably temperate weather in October and November, sunny days around Martinmas are often referred to as goose summer. That’s when the itsy-bitsy spider climbs up the water spout and weaves a “goose-summer” web, i.e., gossamer, that shimmers in the sunlight.
Celebrate
Looking for a new tradition based on old beliefs? Try one of these:
- Give to the poor.
- Lead a lantern procession.
- Ride a horse.
- Bake Weckmänner, a man-shaped sweet bread.
- Roast a goose or duck.
- Play “Duck, Duck… Goose.”
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