Martinmas in May

Abstract

SIR NORMAN LOCKYER in his book on “Stonehenge” connects the festival of St. Martin, which falls on November 11, with the beginning of winter in the May-November year, which falls astronomically on November 9. He does not, however, seem to be aware that there was another festival of St. Martin which fell on May 12. This was the Subventio St. Martini, a festival which was appointed to be observed by a council held at Tours in 841 to commemorate the restoration of the relics of the saint to Tours after they had been hidden on account of the incursions of the Northmen. Sir Harris Nicolas in his “Chronology of History”, published in 1838, stated that the festival was still observed in the province of Tours. The date of the appointment of the festival is late, but reverence for sacred stones survived until long after that time, and it might be worth while to try to discover whether any connection can be traced between the appointment of the festival and an attempt to discourage the old stone-worship.