Slainte: Feasting With Angels, Irish Recipes for Michaelmas

Feasting with Angels

During the time of the Crusades, Michael was naturally named the patron of knights who fought to reclaim the Holy Land. Today, his patronage extends to all armed combatants – soldiers, mariners, and airborne units, especially fighter pilots and paratroopers – as well as civilian police officers, paramedics, EMTs, and other emergency responders. Shrines to Saint Michael are usually found in high places, frequently on mountaintops. A notable exception is Ireland’s Skellig Michael (Michael’s Rock), a craggy island in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 9 miles west of County Kerry.

Since the sixth century, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel has been celebrated on September 29th. Known as The Feast of Michael and All Angels, or Michaelmas, it was a holy day of obligation, and everyone was required to attend mass. In Old Irish tradition, the day was called Fomhar na nGeanna, the Goose Harvest. Just like cows, geese born in the spring were put out to pasture in flocks to feed on grass. Called ‘green geese,’ they were a delicacy only enjoyed by the very wealthy as were their huge goose eggs, which were served at royal banquets on dishes of gold and silver.

Most geese, however, were kept until after summer’s grain harvest when they were released into the cut fields. Feeding on the fallen grain, these ‘stubble geese’ fattened up quickly. Believing that “If you eat goose at Michaelmas you will never want all year round,” people usually celebrated the saint’s day with a goose feast. Prized goose feathers and down were collected for filling mattresses and pillows.

In the southeast corner of Ireland, an old saying: La Fheile Mhichil a chroitear an t-ullord (On Michael’s Day the orchard is shaken) marks the beginning of the annual apple harvest.  At almost the same time, the potato harvest comes in, and by Michaelmas, both crops are in abundant delicious supply. Saint Michael’s feast also signals an end to Ireland’s blackberry season, for it is told that when Michael tossed Satan out of heaven the Evil One landed in a blackberry bramble patch and was so annoyed at the many pricks he endured that each year on Michaelmas he returns to curse and spit on all blackberries, rendering them inedible.

In addition to its significance as Michael’s Feast, September 29th also marks one of the ‘quarter-days’ on the old Irish calendar. These four dates during the year, corresponded to religious festivals (12/25/Christmas, 3/25/Lady Day/The Annunciation, 6/24/Midsummer/St. John, 9/29/Michaelmas). Magistrates visited outlying towns to adjudicate legal cases, servants were hired, and rents were due, expanding Michael’s patronage to the legal and business professions. Frequently outstanding accounts were settled with payment of a Michaelmas goose. 

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Nster.com