St. Martin's Day

The whole winter for the inhabitants of the Netherlands is a solid Midwinterfeest.The whole winter for the inhabitants of the Netherlands is a solid Midwinterfeest, which literally translates as “winter festival”. In fact, this name refers most to the beginning of winter. It brings with it three beloved and revered saints in the country - Martin, Claas, Thomas.

To St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, whose day is celebrated on November 11, forty of the oldest churches in the Netherlands and four hundred in Belgium are dedicated. The city of Utrecht is considered to be under its direct protection.

Nowadays, the most interesting performance in Martin's Day is played out in the town of Venloo in the province of Limburg. St. Martin himself appears in the streets of the city in the episcopal costume. He travels in an old carriage, and on both sides of the crew and behind him is an orchestra - an entourage of dress-ups carrying flashlights in their hands, carved from turnips with candles inside.

On St. Martin’s Day, almost every Dutch kitchen bakes a goose in the oven. This custom originates in those days, when the amount of food for the winter was harvested limited, it was kept for laying eggs, and foraging autumn fat geese for the holidays hammered. Legend has it that once the geese with their gagging very much prevented Saint Martin from uttering a sermon, and he said in his hearts that they were much sweeter on the table for him. According to another version, the geese annoyed the saint much more - stupid birds gave out a cry of his secret shelter, which was just a goose shed. Since then, people have punished them on the Day of Remembrance.

On this day, another type of “St. Martin’s treat” is popular. It is made as follows: paper cams are more densely stuffed with raisins, nuts, sweets, cookies mixed with small coins, small toys, souvenirs, small cosmetic accessories and so on - depending on the composition and age of those to whom the treat is intended. Such cams are suspended from the ceiling in the halls and rooms where children's holidays and youth discos take place - approximately at the height of the raised hand of an adult. At the climax of the holiday, the cams are set on fire, the “stuffing” in disorder falls on the guests, and they happily grab gifts. However, for reasons of fire danger in recent times, everything is different - the hotels are mixed in a large basket, and one of the owners or organizers of the holiday just tips the basket into the crowd.