St. Martin's Day time of the year) and have Jesus bringing the end of it, thus making the "summer" a gift from God. In Spain, St. Martin's Day is the traditional day for slaughtering fattened pigs for the winter. This tradition has given way to the popular saying ""A cada cerdo le llega su San Martín"", which translates as "Every pig gets its St Martin." The phrase is used to indicate that wrongdoers eventually get their comeuppance. In Saint Martin, November 11 is commemorated as the date when Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus, on his second journey into Antillean waters, landed on the island,
Alexis St. Martin processes of digestion by dangling food on a string into St. Martin's stomach, then later pulling it out to observe to what extent it had been digested. Beaumont continued to experiment on St. Martin off and on until 1833, performing an estimated 200 experiments in 10 years. Alexis St. Martin allowed the experiments to be conducted, not as an act to repay Beaumont for keeping him alive, but rather because Beaumont had the illiterate St. Martin sign a contract to work as a servant. Beaumont recalls the chores St. Martin did: "During this time, in the intervals of experimenting, he