Popular traditions of Saint Martin

The testaments of the deep legacy between Saint Martin and our territory are several and referred to different spheres of the life of our people. Uncountable are the iconographic calls in our cities and in our churches to the Saint, and numerous are the proverbs and the dishes in his memory.

Unfortunately, the young generation does not know Saint Martin and his important heritage, as it doesn’t seen interested in it.

In the Veneto Region:

Over 114 parishes and churches are dedicated to the Saint;
Saint Martin is the patron of many towns and villages: Campo San Martino, San Martino di Lupari, Peschiera, Lazise, Piove di Sacco, Povegliano Veronese, Tregnago, Paese, Vigo di Cadore and Belluno.
Thousands of artistic works dedicated to San Martino are contained in hundreds of churches, capitals and monasteries;
Popular and cultural traditions related to him are consolidated in all the Provinces: poems, idioms, proverbs, nursery rhymes and beliefs, festivals, festivals, events, recipes.

Based on the book ““Sulle Orme di San Martino”, write by Prof.Paolo Ghedina and Prof.Pier Luigi Fantelli and published by Congrega del Tabàro association.

Eno-gastronomic heritage

November 12th, is the day of the beginning of the fast before Christmas, and this is why on November 11th, we celebrated in our territories a kind of peasant’s New Year, with great bingeing and drinking. The typical animal that dominated this party was the goose. The breeding of geese was widespread throughout the Veneto, and this animal was very important because it was rich in fat and between November and December the first geese of the year were eaten. Hence the venetian proverb “Chi no magna oca a San Martin, no’l ago el becco de un quatrin”. Moreover, a legend tells that Martino did not want to become a bishop and hid in a stable full of geese, but the noise of the animals revealed his hiding place. As mentioned in the previous chapter, around the 11th of November the end of the harvest was celebrated and new wine were started to drink, as evidenced by these proverbs: ” A San Martin casca le foie e se spina el buon vin” and “da San Martin el mosto diventa vin”.

Saint Martin is also the patron of hosts because another legend tells that he turned water into wine.

As for this area, we have found the presence of many associations that in our territory are involved in spreading and reviving these traditions, such as the Company of the Goose of Mirano, whose purpose to organize the celebrations of S. Martino since 1986, which describes this recurrence:

Quella dell’11 novembre era una festa pagana di origine antichissima, già della tradizione celtica, entrata a far parte delle feste cristiane grazie a S. Martino. Questo periodo dell’anno fin dalla tradizione più antica dedicato a S. Martino è sempre stato collegato alle oche. La leggenda racconta infatti che Martino, nonostante l’elezione a furor di popolo a Vescovo di Tours, non voleva abbandonare il saio e cercò di nascondersi, ma furono proprio le oche a stanarlo e così divenne vescovo amatissimo di Tours e poi Santo per la sua bontà nei confronti dei poveri. Secondo alcuni però la tradizione di mangiar l’oca ai primi di novembre non è altro che la conseguenza del fatto che in questo periodo le oche selvatiche migrano verso sud e quindi è più facile cacciarle. Nel secolo scorso e fino ai primi del Novecento l’oca era anche mezzo di scambio. Con essa fittavoli e mezzadri pagavano ai nobili proprietari terrieri una parte del dovuto. Oppure si recavano al mercato e scambiavano le oche con stivali come ricorda la fiera di S. Andrea a Portogruaro nel Veneto, detta “Fiera delle oche e degli stivali”.¹

Do not forget the saying: ” Oca, castagne e vino, tieni tutto per San Martino ” – “Goose, chestnut and wine, keep them all for Saint Martin”. This explains that the anniversary of St. Martin was a kind of peasant’s New Year during which it was celebrated. For our rural tradition, more simply, the goose was considered the pig of the poor.

About these traditions, we have found numerous variables dependent on the territories and the Provinces in which they occur. Particularly well-known is the peculiarity of the venetian area, as the image of Saint Martin on horseback ends every year in confectionery. In a mold the short pastry is prepared; the dessert is then embellished with chocolates, colored beads and other delicacies.

ARTISTIC Heritage

The discover of the artistic heritage linked to Saint Martin is really interesting and surprising, because it shows how widespread and represented in our territory, even physically, is the presence of Saint Martin.

Considering the innumerable iconographic testimonies present, it is impossible to make a list of the entire heritage, but we can see all the footprint of the Saint in our culture.

The story of the goose of Saint Martin

The tradition of eating goose on the day dedicated to S. Martin has its origins over the centuries. For centuries, the goose was, together with the pig, the reserve of fats and proteins during the winter of the poor farmer who commonly fed only on cereals and large polenta. From the Egyptians to Homer, the goose was always kept as a cheerful childhood companion and guardian (the famous geese of the temple of the goddess Juno on the Capitol).

The geese were fattened with dried figs from the southern regions to make the liver fatter. The Romans called the liver “iecor” and the fat liver “iecor ficatum”, from which the Italian “liver” derives.

The barbarians, who sacked Rome in 390 BC under the guidance of Brenno, considered the palmiped a symbol of the afterlife and a guide of pilgrims, but also Great Mother of the Universe and living beings. The goose paw was used as a “mark” of recognition by the masters builders of Gothic cathedrals, called “Jars”, which means geese in French. The goose was always bred, even in the medieval period, in monasteries and peasant families, as Charlemagne ordered. Around 1400, some Ashkenazi Jewish promoted the spread of the goose in the northern regions of the peninsula and therefore also in Veneto. Not being able to consume pork for religious reasons, their butchers prepared delicious salami and goose hams. Goose was, in fact, the favorite food of wealthy Jewish families in the late nineteenth century.

As in Celtic tradition, on 11th November it also became part of the Christian holidays thanks to S. Martino and was always connected to geese. The legend tells, in fact, that Martino, despite the election by popular acclaim to Bishop of Tours, did not want to abandon the habit and tried to hide, but it was precisely the geese that tracked him down and so he became bishop and then Saint for his goodness towards the poor.

But in the last century and until the early twentieth century the goose was also a medium of exchange. Tenant farmers and sharecroppers paid part of the amount to the noble landowners with geese, or went to the market and exchanged geese for boots.

Reference: http://www.michelelittame.it/