Nowadays, in many Western countries the latter half of autumn signals the coming of Halloween on October 31st. Halloween is the last major celebration before Christmas, and already in early October spooky decorations and costumes creep into shops, schools and houses. However, in many European countries, Halloween is a relatively new celebration which has only begun to be widely celebrated in the last few decades, if at all. For countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal, Martinmas, or Saint Martin’s Day, is the more prominent autumnal celebration.

Saint Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier who was baptised as an adult and became a bishop in a French town. The most notable of his saintly acts was he had cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save him from the cold as then that night, he dreamt of Jesus, wearing…