The Martinmas mart

Martinmas was the time to kill beasts and salt them down for winter, so in Scotland and the north of England a fat ox for killing was called a mart. In Northumberland, Brand found, country families clubbed together at Martinmas to buy a cow or other beast between them, and that partnership too was a mart. The blood and suet went into black puddings, which were boiled and sent round as presents. Martlemas beef was beef dried in the chimney like bacon.