St. Martin’s Day Traditions

November 11th is St. Martin’s Day in Hungary. The festival of goose and wine, celebrated all over the country with various events. It is worth taking a look behind the traditions to reveal where this joyful celebration stems from.

This time of the year, Martin’s Day fairs and balls were organized, and feasts were also favoured by the fact that Martin’s Day was a day banning activities. This meant that cleaning and washing were forbidden, because that would have caused the death of the livestock.

The twig picked on Martin’s Day, used for the herding of the animals, was placed above the stall door to protect the herd from diseases. The weather was predicted from the bones of geese: if the bone was long and white, the winter would be snowy; if it was short and brown, the winter would be muddy. They also predicted from the weather of that day: ”If Martin comes on a white horse, a mild winter is expected; if he comes on a brown horse, a hard winter is expected.” According to a calendar rule: ”On Martin’s Day, if geese walk on ice, they will amble in water at Christmas.”