As November arrived our ancestors began preparing their homes and farm buildings for the winter. One of the tasks was to sweep the chimneys to stop them catching on fire which can be caused by the build up of soot. People generally stayed indoors from now on, repairing tools and other equipment such as fishing nets. Women spun and carded wool or they mended and weaved new clothes. All of these tasks were carried out under the soft flickering glow of rushlights or candles made from tallow.
Now was the time for deciding which animals to over-winter and which animals to slaughter. Our ancestors needed ample food to survive the winter months as well as the fact that there would be nowhere near enough fodder to feed all of the livestock they currently had. The smouldering fires that smoked the meat were looked after day and night by a woodcutter who brought down the oak bark from the nearby forest. Food for the lean months was preserved by means of smoking, salting or pickling.
The men folk of the community slaughtered the larger animals such as the sheep and pigs, while the women folk had the task of killing the fowl. Unsurprisingly, the Anglo Saxon name for November was Blod-monath (Blood Month) or Blot-monath (The Month of Sacrifice). The Anglo Saxon monk Bede (d. 735) writes in his De Temporum Ratione, ‘our ancestors, when they were heathen, always sacrificed in this month; that is, they assigned and dedicated to their idols the cattle that they purposed to offer up’. Animal carcasses made excellent fuel for the fire (bone-fire) and the fire also kept diseases and pests at bay. This huge undertaking would have been completed around the time of the feast of St Martin (Martinmas) on 11th November. It was a time of feasting on beef, mutton, pork or roasted goose and all washed down with a traditional beverage of hot rum and milk.
When the Christian festival of Martinmas, also called Martlemas, arrived in Anglo Saxon lands, it seamlessly replaced what had come before, but only in name. Even after the arrival of Christianity it was still necessary to slaughter livestock at this time of year. Pope Gregory I (c.540-604) wrote to his missionaries explaining how to convert the pagan Anglo Saxons; ‘because they are in the habit of slaughtering much cattle as sacrifices to devils, some solemnity ought to be given to them in exchange for this…Do not let them sacrifice animals to the devil, but let them slaughter animals for their own food to the praise of God, and let them give thanks to the Giver of all things for His bountiful provision.’ Our ancestors had to prepare for winter no matter who they prayed to.
The slaughter of animals was not only a practical task but a symbolic one too. In Medieval Scotland and Ireland, if animal blood had not been ritually spilt on the land or over the threshold on St Martin’s Eve, then the following year would not be a prosperous one. The animal to be sacrificed was usually a cockerel, but a sick sheep or goat would have been an acceptable choice as well. In Ireland, the animal’s blood was sprinkled on the inside and outside of cottages, byres and outbuildings. There is no historical evidence of this ritual taking place in England.
“Its blood was then sprinkled over the house inside and out and over the byre and all the outbuildings. The sign of the cross was made in blood on both sides of the threshold and also upon the foreheads of all the children and other members of the family. If a fowl had been killed, its head was sometimes thrown over the house roof as a protection against evil in the coming year. Well after all this had been done, the slaughtered creature was eaten.” (From the book ‘Ulster Folklife’ vol 9 (1963) by R H Buchanan).
In Scotland, Martinmas was the day for paying rents and ending and beginning tenancies and work contracts. It was also known as Pack Rag Day because workers would be packing up their belongings and leaving for new employment elsewhere. They prepared a simple meal of bread, cheese and whiskey for those who were staying behind and a few days later, those who had stayed on treated the newcomers to a meal too. Both of these evening gatherings began at 9pm after the horses had been fed. With music, singing and dancing the workers were up until the early hours of the morning. This tradition was known as the Martinmas Foy.
In Ireland and the Western Isles of Scotland, it was believed to be unlucky to turn any wheel on St Martin’s Day, so carters, millers and spinners all had a holiday. This tradition was explained by a tale of St Martin being thrown under a turning mill wheel. Another custom in Scotland was to slaughter an ox that was named the Mart. This tradition was explained by a bizarre tale of St Martin being cut up and eaten in the form of an ox. The Martinmas ox could possibly be a survival of an older cult.
Martinmas Eve was traditionally a time for divination especially in Scotland. The Trial of Three Dishes was the most popular form where unmarried people would sit blindfolded in front of three bowls known as luggies. One bowl had clean water in it, one had dirty water and the last one would be empty. The person had to dip their finger into one of the bowls. If it was the one with clean water then they would marry a maiden or bachelor. If it was the dirty one then they would marry a widow or divorcee and the empty bowl meant that they had no marriage prospects at all. Sometimes the’ best of three’ rule was followed with the bowls being switched around each time.
After the First World War, Martinmas became known as Armistice Day and then after the Second World War, the closest Sunday to 11th of November became Remembrance Sunday.
St Martin of Tours (c316-397) was a monk and bishop born in what is now Hungary. As a young man, Martin followed in his father’s footsteps and became a soldier in the Roman cavalry. He found himself imprisoned after choosing to convert to Christianity and realising that his newfound beliefs were not in alignment with being a soldier. Eventually Martin was discharged from the army and was able to travel to Gaul where he established a monastery. Instead of living in the monastery, Martin could be found nearby in a cave which had been dug out of a cliff face by the river Loire at Marmoutier. As his holy community grew, eighty monks lived in caves and would only gather for communal prayers and meals.
St Martin was one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages and was widely known for his miraculous works such as raising people from the dead, curing lepers and casting out demons. He became the patron saint of soldiers, the poor, winemakers and blacksmiths. St Martin has been portrayed in many paintings as a Roman soldier on horseback leaning over to give half of his cloak, which he cut with his sword, to a beggar in the middle of winter. This portrayal comes from Martin’s conversion story where after his act of charity he is visited by Christ in a dream wearing the beggar’s half of the cloak.
The city of Tours, where his relics lie, became the centre of his cult and pilgrimages to here were made popular by the Frankish kings who took his legendary cloak with them to war. Gregory of Tours, a Gallo Roman historian (d. 594), wrote that the dust surrounding St Martin’s shrine could be mixed with water to provide curative benefits and the reputation for the relics to produce miracles meant that during the Middle Ages the shrine was visited by thousands of people. Within sixty years of Martin’s death a larger church had to be built to accommodate everyone. His feast day was so enthusiastically celebrated that in 578 the Synod of Auxerre had to ban the feasting. It is thought by some that Martinmas replaced the celebrations of the Greco Roman god Bacchus that took place at this time of year and there is a legend of St Martin curing drunkards.
‘It is the day of Martlemas, Cupps of ale should freely pass; What though winter has begun To push down the summer sun, To our fire we can betake And enjoy the crackling brake, Never heeding winter’s face On the day of Martlemas.’
Merry Martinmas! Let’s see if we will have a warm spell of weather over the next couple of weeks which when it does occur in November is called the Little Martinmas Summer.
Brightest blessings, Elissa
BIBLIOGRAPHY -
A Year of Festivals by Geoffrey Palmer & Noel Lloyd (1972) The Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton (1996) A Dictionary of British Folk Customs by Christina Hole (1976) A Chronicle of Folk Customs by Brian Day (1998) The Celtic Calendar by Brian Day (2003) Curious Country Customs by Jeremy Hobson (2007) The Celtic Year by Shirley Toulson (1997) Oxford Dictionary of Saints by David Farmer (2011) Celtic Pilgrimages by Elaine Gill & David Everett (1997) Lost Gods of England by Kathleen Herbert (2000) Maypoles, Martyrs & Mayhem by Quentin Cooper & Paul Sullivan (1994) Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker (2022)
Fascinating, thank you! I’m from the Western Isles of Scotland and was particularly interested in what you mentioned about the Martinmas ox. In modern Scottish Gaelic, “mart” is just one of the words for “cow”, especially for beef cattle; “beef” is “feòil mairt”, “meat of the cow”. I have no idea whether there is an etymological connection to St Martin (“Martin” is “Màrtainn”, with a much longer “a” sound) but it would be fascinating to find out, so I was wondering if you could point me to a source for the info about the Martinmas ox? If it’s not readily to hand don’t worry about it though!
Thank you for this piece of writing, covers a lot of ground in one go. I found your work through Michael Martin, 'Druid Stares Back' substack, much of history is currently being replaced with plugging into 'the now' or current thing, we are missing some very deep connections with our past & thus where we are headed. I wonder why in the primary & secondary schools I attended as a child I was not taught much of the stories told here, am grateful it survives