ADVENT CALENDAR December 11th - of geese and a queen...

Isn't it strange sometimes? On Sunday I saw a field full of geese on my way to visit friends. When I told the mother of the little girl I am working with this week, she told me all about them. It seems the farmer who owns this field buys goose chicks each spring and raises the geese there. Some of them get eaten on November 11, which is the feast day of Saint Martin. The rest are eaten at Christmas time. Their aunt buys her goose there each year...

Now I don't want to get into a discussion of whether or not to eat meat/geese. But if you are going to eat a goose, isn't it nicer for the goose to have had a nice time on a big field with lots of grass, walking around in the sunshine for months and pecking for worms, rather than being locked into a little cage to fatten more quickly?

We have heard that some people have carp on Christmas Eve in Europe. For many it is a goose instead. There is a reason for both: Advent was a time of fasting in preparation for Christmas. So on Christmas Eve, as the last day of fasting, no meat might be eaten. Carp, being a fish, was allowed. On December 25^th, Christmas Day, a goose was served, now that the fasting was over.

Why a goose? Legend has it that Elizabeth I was eating a goose at Christmas in 1588 when she received the news of the victory over the Spanish Armada. She is said to have declared the goose to be the official Christmas meal in thanksgiving and remembrance of this for her so happy day. The custom spread to the continent, and although it is no longer part of the English tradition, it stuck in Germany.

Here is a recipe for goose translated from daz buch von guter spîse(around 1350 AD)

This is a good meal.

Stick a goose on a spit and cook the innards. Take four eggs, hardboiled, and add the crumbs of nice white bread, add cumin, a little pepper and saffron, and take three cooked chicken livers. Mix them with vinegar and chicken broth, but not too sour, peel onions and make thin slices and put them into a pot, add lard or water and cook them till they are soft. And take three sour apples, cut out the seeds. When the onions are done add the apples, until they are soft, and put the mixture and the apples and the onions in a pan and when the goose is done, cut it up, lay it in a nice bowl, pour the sauce over it and serve it.

Now that we know all about the geese, let's check on the calendar! Number 11...

Carrying things into the bakery!

Have a magical day!