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| A Michaelmas Procession in Bavaria |
Continuing on with the theme of customs and traditions, today is the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, known as Michaelmas. The website Catholic Culture offers many good summaries of some of the customs and traditions associated with the liturgical year; here is what they have to offer for today's feast day:
Another good source for knowledge of the various customs and traditions surrounding our feast days is Fr. Francis X. Weiser, the author of The Holyday Book and The Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. For this day, Fr. Weiser notes the tradition of St. Michael's wine, a custom which apparently persists in Denmark in particular.
England long observed Michaelmas with many special ceremonies and customs. The Michaelmas daisy was named in the saint’s honor, and village maidens in other days gathered crab apples on his feast. These were carried home and put into a loft, so arranged as to form the initials of their supposed lovers. The initials that were still perfect on old Michaelmas Day (October 11) were supposed to show where true love was. Another curious belief was that it was unlucky to gather blackberries on the feast of Saint Michael. The outstanding and most persistent custom connected with Michaelmas was the eating of a goose at dinner. This seems to have originated with the practice of presenting a goose to the landlord when paying the rent. According to a sixteenth-century poet:
And when the tenants come to pay their quarter's rent,
They bring some fowl at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent,
At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose
And somewhat else at New-year's tide, for fear their lease fly loose.
We read that Queen Elizabeth was eating her Michaelmas goose when she received the news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Obviously, this is apocryphal, for the "invincible" Armada was defeated in July and the news reached Elizabeth long before Michaelmas. But certainly the custom persisted in high places and low throughout Britain. The Michaelmas goose was eaten in other places besides the British Isles, although in most countries of the Continent this custom was more apt to be connected with the celebration of Saint Martin’s Day (November 11th). The Germans believed they could foretell the weather from the breastbones of the Michaelmas goose — a belief that traveled to America with immigrants of German stock, and which still exists today among the Pennsylvania Dutch.
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In Ireland, Michaelmas was one of the most important feasts of the year, and people prayed especially on this day for protection against sickness. A goose or a sheep or a pig was especially killed and eaten at Michaelmas at a feast of thanksgiving, connected by some with a miracle of Saint Patrick performed with the aid of Michael the Archangel. And the Irish made a Michaelmas Pie into which a ring was placed — its finder was supposed to have an early marriage. In Scotland, Saint Michael’s Bannock was made on his day, as well as a Saint Michael’s Cake, that all guests, together with the family, must eat entirely before the night was over.
In Scotland, Saint Michael’s Bannock was made on his day, as well as a Saint Michael’s Cake, that all guests, together with the family, must eat entirely before the night was over.
Another good source for knowledge of the various customs and traditions surrounding our feast days is Fr. Francis X. Weiser, the author of The Holyday Book and The Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. For this day, Fr. Weiser notes the tradition of St. Michael's wine, a custom which apparently persists in Denmark in particular.
Finally, I would point readers to this interesting article by Rachel L. Lozowski, Honoring St. Michael on His Feast Day.
