St. Martin's Day marking the end of the preparations for winter, such as salting meat and fish, storing the harvest and making preserves. Mārtiņi also marks the beginning of masquerading and sledding, among other winter activities. St. Martin's Day ("Jum San Martin" in Maltese) is celebrated in Malta on the Sunday nearest to November 11. Children are given a bag full of fruits and sweets associated with the feast, known by the Maltese as "Il-Borża ta' San Martin", "St. Martin's bag". This bag may include walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, chestnuts, dried or processed figs, seasonal fruit (like oranges, tangerines, apples and pomegranates) and "Saint
St. Martin's Day name in Irish "Díseart Mhartain" or 'Retreat of Martin'. In Sicily, November is the winemaking season. On St. Martin's Day Sicilians eat anise biscuits washed down with Moscato, Malvasia or Passito. More precisely, the hard biscuits are dipped into the Moscato. "l'Estate di San Martino" (Saint Martin's Summer) is the traditional Sicilian reference to a period of unseasonably warm weather in early to mid November. Saint Martin's Day is celebrated in a special way in a village near Messina and at a monastery dedicated to him overlooking Palermo beyond Monreale. Mārtiņi (Martin's) is traditionally celebrated by Latvians on November 10,