Mocney.] 414: [May 3, 



connected with his name, and the conclusion seems irresistible that these 

 belong properly to some earlier pagan god or hero.* Can it be that tinder 

 the name of Saint Martin, the modern peasant is honoring Mars, the 

 ancient god of war? The bloody rites which so distinguish this day from 

 all others might wel bear out such an assumption. 



In Ireland, the poorer people sacrifice a goose or a rooster, while the 

 wealthier farmers and graziers offer a sheep. When a rooster is to be ihe 

 victim an effort is made to procure a black one, and in some districts it 

 must be a coilleach Mdrtain (colyakJi Marthan), or March cock, i. e., one 

 hatcht in March from an eg laid in the same month. Strangely enouah, 

 a rooster is never sacrificed in some parts of Kerry, where the people dis- 

 like to kil one under any circumstances. The doomd animal is previously 

 "named for Saint Martin," that is, dedicated for a sacrifice in his honor 

 on Saint Martin's day, and the vow is seald by "drawing blood " from it. 

 In the case of a sheep, this is done by cutting a piece from its ear. A 

 weakly sheep is sometimes thus consecrated, and so wel tended in conse- 

 quence that it may become the best in the flock, but no money would 

 tempt the owner to sel it for any other purpose, altho there is no objection 

 to selling the wool. The animal is kild on the day preceding the festiviil, 

 and the flesh is eaten on Saint Martin's and succeeding days until con- 

 sumed, a portion being also given to the poor in honor of the saint. The 

 chief object in killing the animal is not to feast upon its flesh, but to 

 "draw blood" for the saint, and it is believd that if any fail to draw 

 blood for Saint Martin, he wil draw blood from them. 



In illustration of this belief, there is a story told in Connemara to the 

 effect that a man once named a sheep for Saint Martin, but as the day 

 approacht the animal was in such fine condition that his avaricious wife 

 was constantly urging him to sel it insted. Afraid to break his vow, and 

 equally unwilling to incur his wife's displeasure, he secretly kild a fowl 

 and smeard the bed with the blood. Then getting into bed and covering 

 himself up as if sick, he persuaded the woman that the saint was drawing 

 blood from him in punishment of the contemplated impiety, until such 

 fear seizd her heart that she was as anxious as himself to see the sheep 

 kild. 



In Kerry, they tel a story of a man who had been always mindful to 

 draw blood for Saint Martin, but who, for some reason, was at last ban- 

 isht from his nativ land. One night, in his new home, he was going along 

 a road all alone when he suddenly rememberd that it was Saint Martin's 

 eve, and there came over him a feeling of deep regret that he could not 

 be at home to draw blood on the occasion. At that moment a horseman 

 rode up from behind and inquired where he was going. On being told, 

 the stranger said that he was going the same way and invited the man to 

 ride behind him on the horse. He consented, and mounted behind the 



* It is, indeed, related that he once restored a woman's child to life, but the story as 

 told seems hardly sufficient to giv lise to the legends in connection with the drawing of 

 blood on this day. 



