In the Venetian countryside, it was the time to move house, taste the new wine, and most importantly, to enjoy roast goose — a ritual dish tied to Saint Martin and his legends. With its Celtic roots, Jewish influences, and peasant traditions, the feast still preserves the echo of a world where food mirrored the rhythm of life and work. November may seem a transitional month for food, awaiting the rich indulgences of the Christmas season. Yet, in this region, countless gastronomic customs are linked to this time of year, revealing the agricultural vocation of the Three Venices through their popular traditions. The 11th of November marked the legal and symbolic end of the agrarian year — a date of great significance. Thus, in the countryside, the custom of the goose of Saint Martin was born.
If the landowner did not ask the peasants to stay on for another year, they had to move and find a new master and home. Even in towns, it became common to change houses on Saint Martin’s Day — so much so that fare San Martino (“to do Saint Martin”) became an expression meaning to move out. The period of fasting before Christmas also began on 12 November, making Saint Martin’s Day a sort of peasant New Year, celebrated with goose and biscuits. The custom of eating goose on Saint Martin’s Day dates back centuries. Along with pork, goose was the main source of fat and protein during the long winter months for poor peasants, who otherwise lived mainly on grains and polenta. From the Egyptians to Homer, the goose was always kept as a cheerful, noisy companion and a guardian — as in the famous geese of Juno’s temple on the Capitoline Hill.
Geese were fattened with dried figs from southern Italy to produce fatty livers. The Romans called the liver iecor and the fattened one iecor ficatum, from which the Italian fegato derives. The barbarians who sacked Rome in 390 BCE under Brennus regarded the goose as a symbol of the afterlife and the Great Mother of the Universe and all living beings. In medieval symbolism, the goose’s foot was used as a mark of recognition among the master builders of Gothic cathedrals.
Geese continued to be raised throughout the Middle Ages, both in monasteries and peasant households, as decreed by Charlemagne. Around 1400, Ashkenazi Jewish communities from northern Europe, who had settled in northern Italy and the Veneto, further popularised goose consumption. Unable to eat pork for religious reasons, Jewish butchers created exquisite goose salamis and hams. By the late 19th century, goose meat had also become a delicacy among wealthy Jewish families.
Of Celtic origin, the 11th of November later entered the Christian calendar thanks to Saint Martin and has always been associated with geese. Legend has it that Martin, though elected Bishop of Tours by popular acclaim, tried to avoid the position and hid himself — but the geese betrayed his hiding place with their loud honking, forcing him to accept and eventually become a saint known for his kindness to the poor.
Until the early 20th century, the goose also served as a means of exchange: tenant farmers and sharecroppers would offer it to landowners as part of their dues, or bring it to market to trade for boots or other goods. Popular wisdom still recalls the old saying:
“Chi no magna oca a San Martin no’l fa el beco de un quatrin” — Who skips the goose on Martin’s Day won’t earn a dime along the way.
[Published in VeNews 150, November 2010]
