Name for a church festival that is celebrated in Central Europe, particularly in Bavaria, Thuringia and Austria, on the day of the funeral of St Martin of Tours (316-397). The day is characterised by numerous customs such as St Martin's goose dinner (Martinigansl), St Martin's procession and St Martin's singing. In Austria, the wine from this year's grape harvest is served for the first time on this day as a "Heuriger"; the previous vintage thus becomes a so-called "Alter". This church festival celebrated as "Martini" replaced the Germanic autumn festival.
The wine baptism or wine blessing of the new vintage also takes place on Martini on 11 November and is...
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Dominik Trick
Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg