The 11 of November marks the day of St. Martin , Tradition says to roast chestnuts, as well as drinking the água pé or Jeropiga. It is also the day to taste the new wine, namely, from the harvest of the previous year, as indicated by the saying "the day of S. Martin, go to the cellar and taste your wine ".
But who was St. Martin?
Martin of Tours, born in 316 in the city of Sabaria, located in the old Pannonian (currently Hungary). At age 15 years old, he enlisted in the Roman army and its designated for service in Gaul (currently France).
Around the year 337, on a cold and rainy day Martin was on horse on the way back to his homeland, when he met a beggar shivering. Having nothing else to assist him, he took the sword and cut his cloak in half, covering the beggar with one of the parts. Later, he found another beggar with cold and give him the other half of the cape. With nothing else to protect it from bad weather he press on. Reza then the legend, that then, time heated and cold stopped and held during 3 days. It is said also that night, Christ appeared to Martin in a dream dressed in the cloak he had given to the beggar thanked him for having protected him from the cold. After this episode Martin left the army and became a missionary and evangelist, becoming a Bishop at the age of 55 years old.
The 11 of November is the day St. Martin was buried, in 397, with the age of eighty-one years old. This time of year, time usually improves and the sun appears there is talk of "Summer of St. Martin".
Image at: http://browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com