St. Martin’s Day, or Martinmas, is Wednesday, November 11, 2026, and across Europe it means roast goose, new wine, chestnuts and bread baked for the saint. In the Skylands, Fossil Farms in Boonton has a frozen goose of about 9 pounds you can order now, best by November 3, and local butchers can often special-order one with notice. Griggstown Farm’s geese are ready November 21, and Alpine Meats in Blairstown has duck and German dumplings.
November 11 closed the farm year. Harvest was in, wine was ready, animals that couldn’t be fed through winter were killed, and rents fell due. Then came a long fast before Christmas, so this was the last big meal of the season. The saint’s name stuck to all of it.
Few people in New Jersey keep the day, and we found no one in the five counties selling anything under its name. New Jersey’s Portuguese clubs hold São Martinho dinners, but in Elizabeth and South River, outside the Skylands. These are the closest real sources we found, with an honest note on each.
Roast goose
A whole goose roasted until the fat has run off and the skin is crisp, served with red cabbage and bread or potato dumplings.
Stock photo: Олег Мороз / Unsplash Posted this seasonButcher and game market · Boonton, Morris
Fossil Farms Market & Kitchen
Frozen whole goose, about 9 pounds, $260, listed in stock on October 30. It’s the surest way to have one in hand before November 11.
“GEESE ARE ONLY AVAILABLE FROZEN & REQUIRE A 1-2 DAY LEAD TIME.”
How to get it: Order online for store pickup, usually ready in 2 to 4 days. It comes frozen, so order by about November 3 to leave time to thaw it in the fridge. 81 Fulton Street, Boonton. (973) 917-3276.
Stock photo: Олег Мороз / Unsplash Posted this seasonPoultry farm and market · Franklin Township, Somerset
Griggstown Farm
Goose, 10 to 12 pounds, at $11.49 a pound on a deposit, and whole duck at $10.49 a pound. Pickup runs November 21 to 25, too late for the day itself but right for a late goose dinner or Thanksgiving.
“Goose - 10-12lbs - $11.49/lb - Deposit”
How to get it: Preorder on the farm’s order page. To have a bird by November 11, call the store at (908) 359-5218 and ask what’s in the freezer. 484 Bunker Hill Road, Princeton.
Roast duck and the German sides
Denmark swapped goose for duck long ago, and a duck suits a smaller table. Young ducks run 3 to 7.5 pounds.
Stock photo: Hanxiao Xu / Unsplash Posted this seasonGerman butcher and deli · Blairstown, Warren
Alpine Meats and Deli
Ducks, plus imported dumplings and German mustard for the table. The shop says it will try to order what it doesn’t stock, so ask about a goose.
“We also carry pheasants, ducks, turkeys, and quail, as well as whole pigs for roasting.”
How to get it: Walk in, or call (908) 362-8568 first. 57 Route 94, Blairstown.
The first wine of the harvest
From Portugal to Croatia, November 11 is the day to taste the new wine. New Jersey’s nearest thing arrives a little later.
Last seasonWinery · Ringoes, Hunterdon
Old York Cellars
BeauJersey Nouveau, the first wine of the harvest, made from New Jersey Chambourcin. Last year it arrived on November 20, nine days after St. Martin’s, and nothing is posted for 2026 yet.
“The first wine from our 2025 harvest, crafted from 100% New Jersey Chambourcin grapes.”
How to get it: Ask the tasting room about this year’s release: 908-284-9463. 80 Old York Road, Ringoes.
Poppy seed rolls and spice cookies
Poznań eats a white poppy seed croissant on the day, and Dutch children sing for sweets. Nobody here makes the croissant yet, so these are the nearest things.
Posted this seasonPolish deli · Hillsborough, Somerset
Halinka Polish Deli
Makowiec, the Polish poppy seed roll, made on the premises. It isn’t Poznań’s St. Martin’s croissant, but it’s the nearest thing we found in the Skylands.
“Prepared the old fashioned way - with all the secrets accumulated through generations of traditional cooking – all delicious goods are prepared on premises.”
How to get it: Call (908) 829-3271 to check that makowiec is in before you go. 438 US-206, Hillsborough.
Posted this seasonDutch bakery · Wantage, Sussex
Holland American Bakery
Speculaas windmill cookies ($10.55) and taai taai ($6.75 for three), both spiced Dutch cookies. They’re sold as holiday specialties, not for Sint-Maarten by name.
“Our signature cookie, AKA windmill cookies”
How to get it: Walk in or order online. 246 Route 23, Wantage.
Temples, parishes and community gatherings
Where the food is part of the celebration.
Posted this seasonSchool gathering · Morristown, Morris
German Language School of Morris County: Sankt Martin
The school’s St. Martin gathering at Loantaka Park, Saturday, November 7, 4:30 to 6:30 PM. It’s the only event we found in the five counties that carries the saint’s name.
“11/7/2026 | 4:30-6:30 PM Sankt Martin - Loantaka Park”
Details: This is a school event, and its calendar doesn’t say whether visitors are welcome or whether there’s food. Write to info@glsmc.org before you go.
Butchers to call for a special-order goose
Few butchers keep a whole goose in the case, but many can order one in with notice. Call now, ask if it’s fresh or frozen, and ask when it will arrive, since a frozen bird needs a couple of days to thaw.
- Morris: Chester Meat Market, Chester, (908) 879-7523, which lists special holiday orders. SMP Sussex Market, Wharton, (973) 361-2600.
- Somerset: Hind & Fore, Bridgewater, (908) 722-6393. M&M Perrotti’s, Basking Ridge, (908) 306-8806. Perrotti’s, Far Hills, (908) 306-8809. Butcher & Farmer, Bernardsville, (908) 248-0105. Skillman Farm Market, Skillman, (640) 230-1197.
- Sussex: Sussex Meat Packing, Sussex, (973) 875-5641.
- Warren: The Meat Shoppe at Arctic Foods, Washington, (908) 689-0590. Rath’s Butcher & Delicatessen, Stewartsville, (908) 213-2121.
- Hunterdon: Elite Meat, Clinton, (908) 200-7350.
Why goose?
Every page tells the same story: Martin hid in a goose pen so he wouldn’t be made bishop, and the honking gave him away. It’s a good story, but it’s only a legend. The earliest biography, written by Sulpicius Severus, who knew him, has no goose in it. In that account a citizen of Tours lures Martin out of his monastery by pretending his wife is sick.
The likelier reasons are on the farm. November 11 was when rents and tithes came due, and some were paid in geese. The birds are at their fattest in late autumn, and the feast came just before an old fast. In Bohemia, the lady of the house roasted a fattened goose for the maids and servants whose work contracts were renewed that day. No single origin has been proven, and Hungary doesn’t much mind: its saying warns that whoever eats no goose on Márton’s day goes hungry all year.
What Europe eats on St. Martin’s Day
| Where | On the table | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Germany and Austria | Martinsgans with red cabbage and dumplings; bread men called Weckmann or Stutenkerl | Nobody knows why the bread man holds a clay pipe. In most regions he’s really a St. Nicholas bread for December 6. |
| Poland (Poznań) | Rogal świętomarciński, a horseshoe croissant filled with white poppy seed | An EU-protected food. The name is in print in 1860, 31 years before the bakery legend usually told. |
| Portugal | Magusto: chestnuts roasted over a bonfire with água-pé or jeropiga | No goose at all. The saying is “on São Martinho’s day, go to the cellar and taste the wine.” |
| Italy | New wine and chestnuts; in Venice, a cookie of the saint on horseback | “A San Martino ogni mosto diventa vino”: at St. Martin’s, every must becomes wine. |
| Hungary | Goose and new wine, “Márton’s cup” | The goose’s breastbone forecasts winter: long and white means snow, short and brown means mud. |
| Czechia | Goose with caraway, and Svatomartinské wine, first poured at 11:11 on 11/11 | It looks ancient but is a trademark registered in 1995, and sales passed 2.2 million bottles by 2019. |
| Croatia and Slovenia | Martinje: new wine, and in Slovenia goose or duck with mlinci and red cabbage | Must is “baptized” into wine in a mock ceremony, often by someone dressed as a bishop. |
| Sweden (Skåne) | Goose on November 10, with svartsoppa, a spiced goose-blood soup | A national museum says it tastes like gingerbread. The first Swedish record is from 1557. |
| Denmark | Duck on Mortensaften, November 10 | A Danish church site says a third of the country’s yearly ducks are sold for that one evening. |
| Netherlands | Candy, for children who sing door to door with lanterns at dusk | The custom is growing, not fading. |
| Malta | Il-Borża ta’ San Martin: a cloth bag of nuts, figs and fruit | Children get it with a rhyme naming walnuts, almonds, chestnuts and figs. |
| Ireland | A fowl killed on the eve | Its blood was spilled on the threshold, and no mill wheel turned on the day. |
| England and Scotland | Martlemas beef, salted for winter | Shakespeare has Poins call Falstaff “the martlemas.” In Scotland, the law now puts Martinmas on November 28. |
| Spain | The pig-killing begins | “A cada cerdo le llega su San Martín”: every pig gets its St. Martin. It now means everyone gets what’s coming. |
Six things most St. Martin’s pages miss
- November 11 is a funeral. Martin died at Candes on November 8, 397. The feast marks his burial at Tours three days later.
- Half a year’s croissants sell in one day. An EU regulation says Poznań’s bakers sell about 250 tonnes of St. Martin’s croissants on November 11, out of about 500 tonnes a year.
- A chapel is a little cloak. The word comes from cappella, for the relic known as St. Martin’s cloak, which traveled with the Frankish kings. The priests who kept it were the capellani: chaplains.
- Advent may start here. A fast from St. Martin’s Day to Christmas, the Forty Days of St. Martin, was set in Gaul in the 400s and 500s. It gave way to Advent.
- “Fare San Martino” means to move house. Italian farm contracts ended around November 11, so the families moved, and the saint’s name became the phrase for it.
- The new-wine tradition is partly new. The Czech 11:11 pour was built as a campaign in 2005, and Germany’s rider-led lantern parades took their present shape around 1900.
How to roast a goose
- Buy for the crowd. USDA says 1 to 1.5 pounds raw weight per person, but only about 35 to 45 percent of a goose is meat. Plan on a 10 to 12 pound bird for 6 to 8 people, and expect a 9 pound bird to feed fewer.
- Thaw it in the fridge if it’s frozen, and leave a couple of days.
- Prick the skin all over, so the fat under it can run out. The fat sits under the skin, not in the meat.
- Roast. USDA lists 2.5 to 3 hours for an unstuffed young goose of 8 to 12 pounds, plus 15 to 30 minutes if stuffed. Cooks report up to 4 hours for a 12 pound bird, so trust a thermometer.
- It’s done at 165°F in the innermost thigh, the wing and the thickest part of the breast. It can still look pink.
- Pour off the fat as it collects and keep it in a jar. You’ll get a few cups, and it makes very good roast potatoes.
All goose meat is dark and richer than turkey, so serve something sharp beside it. That’s the job of the red cabbage.
Where these facts come from
We checked each fact above against a primary or standard source, and we’ve labeled the legends as legends.
Still looking: know who makes these?
- A goose dinner. We found no Skylands restaurant serving roast goose for St. Martin’s Day. Planning one? Tell us.
- St. Martin’s croissants (rogale świętomarcińskie). Does a Polish bakery near you make them for November 11?
- Weckmann, Stutenkerl and Martinsbrezel. The German bread men and sweet pretzels of the day.
- Roast chestnuts for a magusto. Who grows chestnuts in the five counties, or roasts them for São Martinho?
- Márton-nap goose. Is there a Hungarian club or parish near the Skylands holding a goose feast?
Questions
When is St. Martin’s Day in 2026?
Wednesday, November 11, 2026. In Sweden and Denmark the goose or duck dinner comes the evening before, November 10, and Malta marks it on the nearest Sunday.
Why do people eat goose on St. Martin’s Day?
November 11 ended the farm year, when rents and tithes fell due, and some were paid in geese. The birds were fat by late autumn, and it was the last feast before an old fast leading to Christmas. The story of Martin hiding in a goose pen is a legend, and it isn’t in his earliest biography.
What is Martinmas?
Martinmas is the English name for the feast of St. Martin of Tours on November 11. It marked the end of harvest and the start of winter across much of Europe, with hiring fairs, rent days, slaughtering and new wine.
Why is St. Martin’s Day on November 11?
That was the day of his funeral at Tours in 397. He died three days earlier, on November 8, at Candes.
What do you eat on St. Martin’s Day?
It depends on the country. Germany, Austria, Hungary and Czechia roast goose, and Denmark mostly duck. Portugal roasts chestnuts over a bonfire, Poznań eats white poppy seed croissants, Venice bakes a cookie shaped like the saint on horseback, and Malta gives children a bag of nuts and figs.
Where can I buy a goose in New Jersey for St. Martin’s Day?
Fossil Farms in Boonton lists a frozen whole goose of about 9 pounds for pickup at its store, which we saw in stock on October 30, 2026. Local butchers can often special-order a goose with notice, so call early. Griggstown Farm in Somerset County takes goose orders, but pickup starts November 21.
How much goose do I need, and how long does it take?
USDA says to allow 1 to 1.5 pounds raw weight per person and lists 2.5 to 3 hours for an unstuffed young goose of 8 to 12 pounds. Geese are mostly bone and fat, so we’d plan on a 10 to 12 pound bird feeding 6 to 8. Prick the skin first, cook to 165°F by thermometer, and save the fat that runs off.
Is St. Martin’s Day related to Veterans Day?
They share a date. The World War I armistice took effect on November 11, 1918, which was Martinmas, and Armistice Day became Veterans Day in the US. Martin was himself a soldier and a patron of soldiers, but nothing shows the date was chosen for him.
What is St. Martin’s summer?
It’s a name for a warm spell around November 11, used in Portugal, Italy, Spain and France. The legend says the sun came out when Martin cut his cloak for a poor man.
Every listing quotes the business or organization’s own post or page, with its date; we checked them on . Holiday plans change, so confirm before you go. Spot a mistake, or make one of these foods? Tell us.