St. Martin's Day is November 11, the feast day of Martin of Tours, who gave half his cloak to a beggar so he could hide his poverty.
The day is celebrated in the evening of November 11 in Flanders, the southern and north-western parts of the Netherlands and the Catholic areas of GermanyAustria. Children go by the doors with paper lanterns and candles, and sing songs about St. Martin and about their lantern in return for a treat, very similar to the American tradition of Halloween. Often, a man dressed as St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession.
In recent years the lantern processions have become widespread even in Protestant areas of Germany and the Netherlands, despite the fact that most Protestant churches do not recognize saints as a distinct class of believers from the laity. Also in the east part of the Belgian province of East-Flanders, children receive presents from St. Martin on November 11, instead of from Saint Nicholas on December 6, or Santa Claus on December 25. The food traditionally eaten on the day is goose. According to legend, Martin was reluctant to become bishop, which is why he hid in a stable filled with geese. The noise made by the geese betrayed his location to the people who were looking for him. In England the day was called Martinmas (or sometimes Martlemass). Martlemass beef was beef from cattle slaughtered at Martinmas and salted or otherwise preserved for the winter.
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