St. Martin's Day, also known as the Feast of St. Martin, Martinstag or Martinmas, is November 11, the feast day of Martin of Tours, who started out as a Roman soldier. He was baptized as an adult and became a monk. It is understood that he was a kind man who led a quiet and simple life. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. That night he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. Martin heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clothed me."
The day is celebrated in the evening of November 11 some parts of the Netherlands, in a small part of Belgium (mainly in the east of Flanders and around Ypres), and most areas of Germany and Austria. Children go through the streets with paper lanterns and candles, and sing songs about Saint Martin. Sometimes, a man dressed as Saint Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession (though not in the Netherlands). In recent years, the lantern processions have become widespread even in Protestant areas of Germany (Martinisingen on 10 November) and the Netherlands, despite the fact that most Protestant churches do not recognize saints.
In the United Kingdom, St Martin's Day is known as Martinmas (or sometimes Martlemass). It is one of the term days in Scotland. Martlemass beef was beef from cattle slaughtered at Martinmas and salted or otherwise preserved for the winter. The now largely archaic term "Saint Martin's Summer" referred to the fact that in Britain people often believed there was a brief warm spell common around the time of St. Martin's Day, before the winter months began in earnest. The more common term in modern English is "Indian Summer". (From: Wikipedia)
