MARTINMAS THE FEAST DAY OF ST MARTIN OF TOURS (316 AD- 397 AD) 11th NOVEMBER

MARTINMAS

THE FEAST DAY OF ST MARTIN OF TOURS (316 AD- 397 AD)

11th NOVEMBER

Today follows upon Michaelmas with Martinmas - the Feast Day of St Martin - a day to commemorate the death and burial of St Martin of Tours. Martinmas heralds the dark of the European winter; St Martin was renowned for his gentleness and his ability to bring warmth and light to those who needed it – traditional celebrations therefore emphasise light in the darkness and kindness to others less fortunate.

St Martin lived from 316-397 AD, a soldier and one of the Roman emperor’s elite Prateorian Guard. However, he converted to Christianity, and soon after his conversion, he came upon a poor drunk beggar huddled against the cold under an archway in Amiens. St Martin took his cloak and tore it in half, giving half of it to the beggar, covering him to warm him. The following night, he had a dream in which an angel was wearing his cloak. The authors of the Bad Catholics Guide to Good Living continue the story*:

“Having ruined his uniform, Martin soon found himself posted to the front lines in Gaul. Ever the brilliant careerist, Martin announced on the eve of battle that as a Christian- the Faith was still illegal-he could not fight in this unjust war. His superiors denounced him as a coward and locked him in jail. However, once Martin was safely incarcerated and praying, the enemy melted away from the battlefield. In fact, they marched right back out of Gaul. Martin’s superiors were so alarmed that they expelled him from the army before he could ruin any more perfectly good wars. He later became bishop of Tours and enthusiastically led the destruction of the pagan temples. Outraged ancient preservationists retaliated by dressing as Roman gods and haunting Martin by night. But Martin dismissed these visions as the side-effects of rich French cooking.”

John Zmirak and Denise Matychowiak, Crossroads, 2005, at p. 190.

For obvious reasons, he is the patron saint of drunkards, beggars and the poor. He is known for trying to avoid being made a bishop by hiding in a goose pen, only to be betrayed by the squawking geese. He is also the patron saint of wine growers, vintners and tavern-keepers, his day being the day of the first wine-tasting of the grape harvest.

Martinmas denotes the traditional legal and agricultural periods of the year – the quarters. The terms of the year, in medieval times, were divided into four terms and quarter days – Candlemas, (Feast of the Purification, 2nd February), May Day (1st May), Whitsunday, (Pentecost) and Martinmas.

Taxes were collected on these quarter days and contracts were designated to begin and end in reference to the period. The quarter days saw great fairs where trade was conducted for the duration of the octave of the feast. Cities such as Nottingham received traders from all over Europe for the Martinmas fair.

CUSTOMS

Customs signifying the light of St Martin: Traditionally, children participate in “lantern walks” to celebrate the feast day of St Martin – the (home-made), lanterns signifying light in the darkness, (the light of Christ and the individual light of the child). These lantern walks are still conducted in many parts of Europe - France, Germany and Austria, as well Scandinavia and Ireland. Traditionally, bonfires are also lit in, particularly, Scandinavia, Austria and Germany, (called Martinsfeuer). [The bonfire tradition, and its persistence in post-reformation Scandinavia where Catholicism was illegal, makes one wonder whether Guy Fawkes Day was not an appropriation of the traditional bonfire day of St Martin in the anti-Catholic atmosphere of England at the time…]

St Martin’s Day was the traditional day to first taste the wine harvest, so, in remembrance of St Martin’s charity, it is nice to share a glass of good wine with a neighbour.

In Estonia the children “beg” for goodies door-to-door, and the Estonian housewives give apples, turnips and nuts to them. In our consumer culture, we may take a moment on St Martin’s day to be mindful of the fact that we have food that is plentiful and a benign climate, with no threat of a cold and harsh winter enclosing us; catholicculture.org.

Martinmas time, in Europe, is the time of storage and preparation for winter. Traditionally, in rural areas, it was a time for the killing of beef for storage, which was salted for preservation.

Traditional meats to serve on this feast day were goose and beef, together with other foods used as preserves, such as black pudding.

The Bad Catholics Guide provides a recommendation for goose for Martinmas, first suggesting that the goose be acquired from the public pond in the local park….hmmm

Instead of such a contentious and dangerous goose recipe, I have provided a recipe for Svartsoppa, a soup made of (store bought) goose blood that is traditionally eaten on St Martin’s Day in Scania, in Southern Sweden, from this link; 1-2 cook.com – (they eat on 10 November traditionally); https://www.1-2-cook.com/svartsoppa-from-skane/:

Svartsoppa:

“Svartsoppa (“Black soup”) is a soup made from goose blood and eaten at the traditional Mårten Gås dinner in southern Sweden on November 10. Nowadays, it is strongly associated with the Swedish province of Skåne (Scania).

Svartsoppa (Black soup) recipe

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 10 centiliters of blood (preferably goose blood, or a combination of goose and pork blood)

• 1 centiliter of vinegar

• ½ teaspoon of all-purpose flour

• 4 ½ liter stock or diluted dripping

• ¼ teaspoon of thyme

• ¼ teaspoon of black pepper

• ¼ teaspoon of powdered cloves

• ¼ teaspoon of powdered ginger

• ¼ teaspoon of powdered cinnamon

• 4 centiliters of pureed prunes and/or apricots

• 2 centiliters of black currant gell

• ½ tablespoon of brown sugar

• 2 ½ centiliters of red wine

• 1 teaspoon of port wine or sherry

• ½ teaspoon of cognac

Instructions

1. Whisk together blood and vinegar. Stir in the flour gradually to avoid any flour clumps. Set aside.

2. Heat up the stock or diluted dripping together with all the spices, purred fruit and black currant gell for 15 minutes.

3. Slowly add the blood mix to the stock while whisking vigorously. Avoid boiling.

4. Remove the soup from the heat. Strain if necessary.

5. Add sugar, wines and cognac. Taste, and adjust to taste.

Serve with boiled goose neck and wings, and goose liver sausage. Garnish the dish with boiled plums, apricots and apple slices.

About svartsoppa

Many different cultures have traditional recipes for soup made from blood, except those where religious or cultural taboos have prevented the use of blood as food. Today, these old recipes have fallen out of favor in many countries, but in Scania in southern Sweden the tradition of eating goose blood soup on Saint Martin’s feast day in November has been kept alive.

During the renaissance, svartsoppa was a popular dish in large part of Scandinavia – it was a festive food that was eaten any time of year, provided you had access to blood. Today, it is chiefly served as a part of the Saint Martin celebrations in Scania. The Feast Day of Saint Martin falls on November 11, but in Scania it is more common to celebrate on the eve of Saint Martin, i.e. November 10.

The Saint Martin celebration somewhat surprisingly managed to survive even after the reformation when Catholicism became illegal in Sweden, perhaps because the feast day was an important date for the agricultural year – fairs were held and the yearly labor contracts for agricultural workers ended.”

POTAGE DE CITROUILLE

Admittedly, the Swedish goose-blood soup requires bravery, (at least for us moderns), so for the less brave, is set out below a recipe for Potage de Citrouille, from "Sacred Feasts from a Monastery Kitchen," by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette, which he plans for the Feast of St Martin, a saint he describes as a "truly monastic saint":

I medium squash or pumpkin, peeled and diced

1 large celery root, trimmed, peeled and cubed

3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

3 leeks sliced, (white parts only)

12 cups water

salt and pepper

1 cup heavy cream

fresh chervil

METHOD

Combine vegetables in a good-sized soup pot. Add water and bring to a quick boil. Lower heat to medium. Add salt and pepper and cook 50-60 minutes without covering the pot. Add water if needed.

Allow soup to cool, then whirr it in the blender. Return soup to pot and re-heat at low-medium.

Add heavy cream and continue stirring for 15 minutes or until ingredients are equally mixed. Serve in soup plates. Top with finely chopped chervil (or parsley or chives if chervil is not available).

IMAGE:https://www.iga.net/.../recettes/potage_a_la_citrouille <img src="url" alt="alternatetext">;