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St. Martin's Day celebration - ' Marius' Alexander Jacques Bauer , 1892-93.
Dutch , 1867-1932
Oil on canvas , 59.0 x 46.5 cm,
the-october-country reblogged
Today is St Martin’s day, old Halloween, marking the end of harvest and the beginning of Winter. It is a time for bonfires, lantern processions and feasting. Welsh folklore tells us is a night of ill omens. Owls hoot, meteors fall and the Cwn Annwn (ghostly hounds) roam.
the-october-country reblogged
Raised a rural hillbilly in Baptist and Pentecostal churches gives my goth heart joy to explore defunct European cathedrals and I especially adore these tomb covers in the floors and walking my commoner ass over these dead rich people with the hoard of tourists that come through these days
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Some weird little guys inspired by the Martinmas Gansabhauet of Sursee, Switzerland where they dress like the first guy and uh well see for yourself
On the tangled roots of Hallowe'en...
I've noticed a ten-year-old Washington Post article making the rounds again. It theorises that British colonialism determines whether or not other countries celebrate Hallowe'en. While the timing of various waves of colonisation and immigration (and for one thing, it seems important not to treat those as identical) from Britain can often be used to trace certain cultural or linguistic patterns, with Hallowe'en, the story is a bit more convoluted than is often thought.
The ways in which Hallowe'en has spread and changed over the centuries can't be understood through just ones lens. It needs the context of other autumn and winter calendar customs, the agricultural year, the Reformation, and - especially over time - the urban/rural divide.
Let's take a deep dive...
the-october-country reblogged
In many parts of Germany it is traditional for children to participate in a procession of paper lanterns in remembrance of St. Martin. They make their own little lanterns in school or kindergarten and then gather on city streets to sing songs about good old Marty and their lanterns.
the-october-country reblogged
Feast Days: Martinmas
Anthony Van Dyck ~ "St. Martin Dividing His Cloak" (c.1618)
Happy Martinmas!
Today marks the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, who was bishop there from 371 CE until his death in 397 CE. He is the patron saint of many things, including: against poverty, against alcoholism, the poor, cavalry, Buenos Aires, quartermasters, wool-weavers, soldiers, and tailors, as well as wine growers, makers, and sellers. Whew! He must be very busy.
Keep reading for info about his life, a snitch goose, where the word 'chapel' came from, and how to tell what the weather will be like at Christmas.
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Rolf Dieter Meyer-Wiegand (German, 1929-2006) - Martinmas
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Karen Jerzyk
The perfect image for Old Hallowe'en, which is today! In the time before the Gregorian calendar lopped off twelve days to make things fit, this would have been All Hallows' Eve in the Celtic calendar. It's also the festival of St. Martin, which has traditionally marked the beginning of winter. So this ghost isn't so much lost as right on time.
I'll have a bigger post about all that later on, but for now, as one person memorably put it in the St. Martin's Day tag, happy second-chance Hallowe'en! If you're not ready to surrender to the onslaught of Christmas, or your Hallowe'en was a bit of a damp squib and you want another bite of the pumpkin, go forth and enjoy...
That said, if you're full steam ahead to Christmas, the Solstice, and all that winter has to offer, visit me @now-winter-comes-slowly as well, for more of the same sort of thing you'll find on this blog, but with a chill wind, the light of a northerly star, and a coating of frost...
The Wine of St. Martin’s Day, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Räbeliechtli (turnip lantern) carved for a lantern procession to mark the harvesting of the last crop in Switzerland, around the time when similar celebrations happen for St. Martin’s Day in other countries.
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St. Martin’s Day masks from Suur-Pakri island from the Estonian National Museum
Martinmas, by Rolf Dieter Meyer-Wiegand.
Räbechilbi (turnip lantern festival) at Richterswil, Switzerland.