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St. Martin's Day
Saint Martin's Day or Martinmas (obsolete: Martlemas), and historically called Old Halloween or All Hallows Eve, is the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours and is celebrated in the liturgical year on 11 November. In the Middle Ages and early modern period, it was an important festival in many parts of Europe, particularly Germanic-speaking regions. In these regions, it marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter and the "winter revelling season". Traditions include feasting on 'Martinmas goose' or 'Martinmas beef', drinking the first wine of the season, and mumming. In some German and Dutch-speaking towns, there are processions of children with lanterns ('' Laternelaufen''), sometimes led by a horseman representing St Martin. The saint was also said to bestow gifts on children. In the Rhineland, it is also marked by lighting bonfires. Origins Martin of Tours (died 397) was a Roman soldier who was baptized as an adult and became a bishop in Gaul. He is best kno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sint Maartenskermis
''Sint'' (released on DVD as ''Saint'' in Europe and ''Saint Nick'' in the United States) is a 2010 Dutch dark comedy horror film about Sinterklaas, the character on which the Anglo-Saxon Santa Claus is based. The film was directed by Dick Maas and marked his return to the horror genre, in which he gained acclaim with his debut '' De Lift'' (1983) and '' Amsterdamned'' (1988). The story distorts the popular traditions of Sinterklaas and portrays him as a ghost who murders large numbers of people when his annual celebration night coincides with a full moon. Plot On December 5, 1492, members of a gang led by former bishop Niklas are killed by villagers who refuse to put up with the gang's looting and killing any longer. In years in which the gang's death date coincides with a full moon, they return as murderous ghosts. The public is unaware of this and annually celebrates the Sinterklaas tradition on December 5, with adults not believing that Sinterklaas exists, but making little ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Folklore Society
The Folklore Society (FLS) is a registered charity under English law based in London, England for the study of folklore. Its office is at 50 Fitzroy Street, London home of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts and crafts, customs and belief. The foundation was prompted by a suggestion made by Eliza Gutch in the pages of '' Notes and Queries''. Jacqueline Simpson (Editor), Steve Roud (Editor) (2003). ''A Dictionary of English Folklore''. Oxford University Press. Members William Thoms, the editor of '' Notes and Queries'' who had first introduced the term ''folk-lore'', seems to have been instrumental in the formation of the society: as was G. L. Gomme, who was for many years a leading member. Some prominent members were identified as the "great team" in Richard Dorson's now long-outdated 1967 history of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winemaking
Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its Ethanol fermentation, fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. There is evidence that suggests that the earliest wine production took place in Georgia and Iran around 6000 to 5000 B.C. The science of wine and winemaking is known as oenology. A winemaker may also be called a #Winemakers, vintner. The growing of grapes is viticulture and there are List of grape varieties, many varieties of grapes. Winemaking can be divided into two general categories: still wine production (without carbonation) and sparkling wine production (with carbonation – natural or injected). Red wine, white wine, and rosé are the other main categories. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other plants. (See fruit wine.) Other similar light alcoholic drinks (as opposed to beer or Liq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregory Of Tours
Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encompassing Gaul's historic region. Gregory's most notable work is the ('Ten Books of Histories'), also known as the ('History of the Franks'). is considered a primary source for the study of Merovingian history and chronicles the accounts of the Franks during the period. Gregory is also known for documenting accounts of religious figures, notably that of Martin of Tours. Biography Gregory was born in Clermont, in the Auvergne region of central Gaul. He was born into the upper stratum of Gallo-Roman society as the son of Florentius, Senator of Clermont, by his wife Armentaria II, niece of Bishop Nicetius of Lyon and granddaughter of both Florentinus, Senator of Geneva, and Saint Gregory of Langres. Relatives of Gregory held the Bishopr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winegrowing
Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ranges from Western Europe to the Persian shores of the Caspian Sea, the vine has demonstrated high levels of adaptability to new environments, hence viticulture can be found on every continent except Antarctica. The duties of a viticulturist include monitoring and controlling pests and diseases, fertilizing, irrigation, canopy management, monitoring fruit development and characteristics, deciding when to harvest, and vine pruning during the winter months. Viticulturists are often intimately involved with winemakers, because vineyard management and the resulting grape characteristics provide the basis from which winemaking can begin. A great number of varieties are now approved in the European Union as true grapes for winegrowing and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blōtmōnaþ
In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, Blōtmōnaþ (modern English: '' blót sacrifice, mōnaþ month'') was the month roughly corresponding to November. The month was recorded by the English scholar Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ... in his treatise '' De temporum ratione'' (The Reckoning of Time), saying "Blod-monath is month of immolations, for it was in this month that the cattle which were to be slaughtered were dedicated to the gods.” ''"Blot-monath mensis immolationum, quia in ea pecora quae occisuri erant diis suis voverent.”'' An entry in the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literature dates from the mid-7th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English was replaced for several centuries by Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman (a langues d'oïl, type of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during the subsequent period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into what is now known as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Christianity in Late Antiquity, and continue in some cultures or religions today. Human sacrifice, where it existed, was always much rarer. All or only part of a sacrificial animal may be offered; some cultures, like the Ancient Greeks ate most of the edible parts of the sacrifice in a feast, and burnt the rest as an offering. Others burnt the whole animal offering, called a Holocaust (sacrifice), holocaust. Usually, the best animal or best share of the animal is the one presented for offering. Animal sacrifice should generally be distinguished from the religiously prescribed methods of ritual slaughter of animals for normal consumption as food. During the Neolithic Revolution, early humans began to move from hunter-gatherer cultures toward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allhallowtide
Allhallowtide, Hallowtide, Allsaintstide, or the Hallowmas season is the Western Christian Church, Western Christian season encompassing the triduum of All Saints' Eve (Halloween), All Saints' Day (All Hallows') and All Souls' Day, as well as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (observed on the first Sunday of November) and Remembrance Sunday (observed on the second Sunday in November) in some traditions. The period begins on 31 October annually. Allhallowtide is a "time to remember the dead, including Christian martyrs, martyrs, saints, and all faithful departed Christians." The present date of Hallowmas (All Saints' Day) and thus also of its vigil (Hallowe'en) was established for Rome perhaps by Pope Gregory III (731–741) and was made of obligation throughout the Frankish Empire by Louis the Pious in 835. Elsewhere, other dates were observed even later, with the date in Ireland being 20 April. In the early 11th century, the modern date of All Souls' Day wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octave (liturgy)
"Octave" has two senses in Christian liturgy, Christian liturgical usage. In the first sense, it is the eighth day after a feast, Inclusive counting, counted inclusively, and so always falls on the same day of the week as the feast itself. The word is derived from Latin ''octava'' (eighth), with ''“dies''” (day) implied and understood. In the second sense, the term is applied to the whole eight-day period, during which certain major feasts came to be observed.Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ), article ''Octave'' Octaves, not being successive, are quite distinct from eight-day weeks and simply refer to the return of the same day of a seven-day week in the inclusive counting system used in Latin (just as the ninth day was a return to the same day of a nundinal cycle, the eight-day week of the pre-Christian Roman calendar). Early history The "eighth day" or ''octava dies'' was associated with the weekly Christian celebration of the resurrect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calan Gaeaf
''Calan Gaeaf'' is the name of the first day of winter in Wales, observed on 1 November. The night before is ''Nos Galan Gaeaf'' or ''Noson Galan Gaeaf'', an ''Ysbrydnos'' ("spirit night") when spirits are abroad. Traditionally, people avoid churchyards, stiles, and crossroads, since spirits are thought to gather there. The term is first recorded in literature as "''Kalan Gayaf"'' in the laws of Hywel Dda. The same term, '' Kalan Gwav'', is found in the Cornish language, and ''Kalan Goañv'' in Breton. Traditions Dancing On ''Nos Calan Gaeaf'', women and children would dance around a bonfire and everyone would write their names on, or otherwise mark, rocks and place them in and around said fire. When the fire started to die out, they would all run home, believing if they stayed, ''Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta'' (a bad omen that took the form of a tailless black sow with a headless woman) or ''Y Ladi Wen'' ("the white lady", a ghostly apparition often said to be headless) would chase ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
