Italian Festivals and Traditions

 

 

St. Martino’s day

 

In the past the Saint symbolised the opening of the year: it falls on January 1st. It was an important day because on that date agricultural leases were evicted: people paid the instalments and the locations were renewed. During the week removals took place. Still nowadays in our area moving from house to house is referred to as ‘St. Martino’