{"id":5955,"date":"2023-11-20T20:56:16","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T19:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=5955"},"modified":"2024-04-01T08:45:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T06:45:58","slug":"martinmas-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=5955","title":{"rendered":"Martinmas Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Last Saturday, November 11, people all across Europe celebrated the feast of Saint Martin. In the Czech Republic and Germany, people opened the first young wine of the season at 11:11 am on 11.11; many others ate goose \u2013 the traditional Saint Martin dish. Others drank whatever they could in order to deal with the people who\u2019d been drinking wine since 11 am. But what\u2019s the story with this November holiday which targets fowl and celebrates young booze?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 11th<\/sup> belongs to Saint Martin of Tours. Like many saints, Martin of Tours was something of a jack of all trades \u2013 soldier, monk, bishop, saint. Like many saints, his life was rather picaresque of the very good or the very bad. He gave half of his cloak to a freezing beggar one cold November day. He tried to avoid becoming a bishop by hiding out in a barn. Like many saints, he died an agonizing death (crushed between two mill wheels). On November 11th<\/sup> (his crushing date) we call upon superstitions and symbolism. He was ousted from the barn by a noisy goose, which he had cooked and thus we eat goose. Because of Martin\u2019s good deed with the cloak, God grants us a few warm days in November called \u2018Saint Martin\u2019s Summer\u2019. Because of Martin\u2019s past as a soldier and pacifist, World War I ceased on 11.11 at 11:11.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Martinmas, like many other liturgical days, falls on a day already important to huge swaths of European society. Martinmas, like Halloween (or Samhain) is a transition day, for eons serving as the change from autumn to winter. It is known as Old Halloween, Martlemas, or Old Halloween Eve. The original date for Samhain, Martinmas was moved due to the Gregorian calendar\u2019s pesky tendency to drop days. So even without Martin and his geese and deeds, Europeans practiced customs on this day with clear emphasis on food, booze, and practicality.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Martinmas marked the end of harvest season and beginning of winter, it was also a day of practical importance to the agricultural peoples of Europe. Animals were slaughtered and harvests were collected. Much surrounding those things came to an end or started. Leases were ended and started, rents were due, wages were paid, seasonal ploughmen and other workers finished their work contracts and prepared to move on. Hiring fairs were organized and a new set of itinerant workers was hired for the following season. People brought their work inside, men dropped their farm equipment and picked up crafts and mugs filled with alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twas the season to be boozed up. The end of season meant a period of celebration, but rather than boohooing the end of summer, Martinmas welcomed the winter. Not to be feared, the winter was considered a period of indulgence. The outside time of the year was over for now so it was time to enjoy indoor activities: feasting, drinking, and partying \u2013 a song, by the way, I have been singing for three decades. It was all kicked off by Martinmas, went through Christmas and into Candlemas. (You\u2019re no doubt noting a trend to these revel days, I suggest making festive days by adding the suffix -mas to everything. Fridaymas, Tuesdaymas, or My Birthdaymas has a nice ring.) On Martinmas they drank, ate, and took part in ancient customs like mumming and bonfires. They sent off farmhands with a feast, a thanks, their pay, and a hangover.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There would have been no better time of year to feast. Animals would have been freshly slaughtered \u2013 pig, goose, and beef would have been enjoyed by all. The Germans called November \u2018blood month\u2019 for reasons that make us flinch and animals sprint for the hills. Records from a 1492 monastic Martinmas feast show beef, mutton, ale, and wine. The sheer proportions made it three times larger than their Christmas feast and suggested that they probably involved local poor in the festivities (sharing with the less fortunate as Martin had). They paid singers and minstrels and put them up for the night. Similar accounts for churches, communities, and colleges mention eel, paycock, swan, goose, pig, and beef. It was a great day of the year to be a hungry human and a less great time to be a domestic animal or a bird who lived near water.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Martin is the patron saint of winemakers, soldiers, tailors, cloak makers, goose haters, and millers (sick joke) \u2013 all tracks. But he also happens to be the patron saint of shoemakers, tanners, leather-dressers, glovers, purse-makers, and parchment-makers. All no doubt owing to the many things made from the abundance of recently abandoned hides lying around at the end of the Martinmas slaughter. If you were an animal in November, someone was going to eat you and then wear you.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Martinmas was big on the other side of feasting too \u2013 getting pickled. It was a time to revel with young wine, ale, and hot ale posset. In his 1592 satire, Pierce Penniless his Supplication to the Divell<\/em>, Thomas Nashe lays out the eight kinds of drunkenness, the sixth kind of which is a \u2018martin drunk\u2019 \u2013 a man who\u2019d drunk \u2018himself sober ere he stir\u2019. Social drinking at its best. The German and Dutch agreed, terming \u2018Martinsman\u2019 a \u2018jovial festival drunkard\u2019. An early Scots weather proverb goes \u2018between Martinmas and Yule, water\u2019s wine in every pool\u2019. AKA: The forecast calls for extended periods of wine-drunk idiots peeing in your bushes. Although references to the common Martinmas drinker seems to allude to a cheerful, fun-loving drinker, some never got the parchment. It was a day of excess, filled with drunken quarrels and, naturally, jousting. Because what you really need when binge drinking is to be atop a horse with a giant sharp stick charging another drunk atop a horse with another giant sharp stick. If they didn\u2019t get killed or lose their faces, people acted out of line. One 1421 record shows that a John Hedon (no joke) \u2018became disorderly and propounded inane questions, uttering opprobrious words against his companions\u2019. In other words, Uncle John ruined another<\/em> Martinmas with his opprobrious propounding! John was fined 12d; others not so lucky. Some took advantage of this day of revelry by unfairly sneak attacking their enemies. They\u2019d catch their enemy not only off-guard, but shitfaced or hungover. Something I think should be mentioned in the Geneva Convention with opprobrious words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This all is a formal way of saying what we have known for years \u2013 November is a time to prepare for winter, to revel, to drink and to eat heartily, to fatten up for the cold months. It\u2019s practically in our bones and fatty cells. Jeans tight in December? Who cares? You are only following your historical directives. Leave your worries and weight loss for the spring and summer. Today, we drink and dine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate we\u2019re going to concoct a posset. The adventurous among you might just drink it, too. This is a drink of ale, curdled milk, and spices. It should make you forget any problem you have as long as that problem isn\u2019t lactose intolerance. The posset dates back to at least the medieval period. It appeared in John Russell\u2019s Boke of Nurture<\/em> in 1460 and if there\u2019s one thing we know about 1460, it\u2019s that people were less comfortable than we are today, the TV shows weren\u2019t as good, and shitting yourself to death at age 20 was not uncommon. So, they knew how to make a drink. (Nota bene: this drink will not make you shit yourself to death, but please see above comment on lactose intolerance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        Two egg yolks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        1.2 cups of Cream (or 1\/10 of a pottle for you Olde English nerds)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        A pint of your favorite ale, or lots of those<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        Cinnamon stick or a bit of powder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        Nutmeg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        Sugar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        A pot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        A posset pot (or any glass that has handles)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–        Pants with an elastic waistband (or no pants at all, who are we to judge?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mix up two egg yolks and set them aside. Boil the cream, add a cinnamon stick (or powder). Revel in the warmth of it all. Mock those who do not revel. Strain the eggs with a little cream. When the cream is well boiled and as thick as your Uncle Jim remove from heat and add the eggs. In another pot heat up your ale\/beer with some sugar (Why not? It\u2019s cold outside!) Take a moment to think of Martin crushed between two mill wheels. Then add some nutmeg. When all is heated, inhale deeply and enjoy the atmosphere of a medieval Martinmas celebration ozzing into your kitchen (sans the ubiquitous stench of feces and the tormented shrieking of animals being butchered). Then pour the cream and egg (after removing the cinnamon stick) into your beer and drink. Drink to Martinmas, to the reveling season, and to the god of elastic waistbands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday, November 11, people all across Europe celebrated the feast of Saint Martin. In the Czech Republic and Germany, people opened the first young wine of the season at 11:11 am on 11.11; many others ate goose \u2013 the traditional Saint Martin dish. Others drank whatever they could in order to deal with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/damiengaleone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/1280px-El_vino_de_la_fiesta_de_San_Martin_Pieter_Brueghel_el_Viejo_restaurada.jpg?fit=1280%2C692&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EvEu-1y3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5956,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955\/revisions\/5956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}