Have you found your perfect goose for today ? Why you ask ? Well today is Martin's Goose Day. Who is Martin and why does he have a goose ? Though Mårtin's Gås is known throughout Sweden, it is most popularily celebrated in the southern province of Skåne. The Martin we are celebrating is the Bishop Martin of Tour,who before he became bishop was a heathen in the year 300 A.D.
The reason we associate geese with Martin is that when the church was trying to elect him as a Bishop he ran away and hid in a goose pen. The startled geese started honking and gave away his where abouts. Martin was so angry that he had all of the geese slaughtered. He couldn't let all of these good geese go to waste, so he had feast and they ate them. Martin did become Bishop and the patron saint of Tours.
Part of a true goose dinner is a delicacy known as Black soup. Black soup is made from goose blood, chicken bouillion, cooked apples, vinegar, and many spices. During our goose dinners we always have brussel sprouts, potatoes, and red cabbage.
I can't mention goose or geese without thinking of NIls, a very famous character in Selma Lägerlof's book 'The Wonderful Adventure's of Nils'. A wonderful creative geography lesson of Sweden. You can find this wonderful book at the LearnSweden book store, www.learnsweden.com .
Have a great Marin Goose Day and remember to honk if you love geese. :)
