Today is Martinmas, otherwise known as Scottish Quarter Day. The feast of St Martin of Tours was traditionally the day for slaughtering livestock and salting it for preservation through the winter.11 November 1918 - Armistice Day, marking the end of hostilities in World War I.
The guns were finally silenced on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Though Scots made up only 10% of the UK population at the time, a total of 147,609 Scottish people were killed during the war, a fifth of Britain's total dead.You can find out more about traditional winter practices in Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas, while there's plenty more Scottish history in Scottish Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scotland the Brave. Both are available now from Skyhorse Publishing.
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