Scottish term days moves each year, the legal Term Day of Whitsun was fixed in Scotland as 26 May in the Julian Calendar, which became 15 May under the Gregorian Calendar, adopted in Scotland in 1599. Lammas was celebrated on 1 August, the day the first fruits of the harvest were offered, the name coming from the Anglo-Saxon for 'loaf-mass' or 'bread-feast'. Martinmas, on 11 November, was originally the feast of Saint Martin of Tours, a 4th-century bishop and hermit. In Scotland, 1886 saw the term dates for removals and the hiring of servants in towns changed to 28 February, 28 May, 28
St. Martin's Day was collected and sprinkled on the four corners of the house. Also in Ireland, no wheel of any kind was to turn on St. Martin's Day, because Martin was thrown into a mill stream and killed by the wheel and so it was not right to turn any kind of wheel on that day. In Northern Ireland the village and surrounding parish of Desertmartin owes its name to Saint Columba (also referred to as Colmcille) who visited there in the sixth century. He erected a church there as a retreat and named it in honour of St. Martin. Hence the