The day after Twelfth Night is 'St Distaff's Day'. There never was a St Distaff though, the name is a sort of joke. The relevance of the day is that it marked a return to work for women following the Christmas period (men returned to work on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany - sometimes this was the same day as St Distaff's Day, but at others the men got a few more days of leisure). Spinning thread was a huge part of 'women's work' in the pre-industrial era, and one of the tools used for this was a 'distaff', a stick or spindle used to hold a bundle of unspun fibres in preparation for spinning them into thread. The tool became a symbol of women and their work, and to this day the word 'distaff' is used as an adjective denoting something relating to women.
These days, most fibre is produced by machine and women no longer have to spend their time spinning - unless they want to! Yet many people - of both sexes - still enjoy fibre and textile crafts such as knitting, sewing, weaving, crochet, quilting, felting, macramé, embroidery, cross-stitch, appliqué, lace-making...
Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 68
St Distaff's Day
I'm very grateful to live in a time when work - and creativity - is no longer considered gender-specific and when technological advances free us up to enjoy these activities - or others - as hobbies rather than chores! I love knitting, but I'm sure it would be much less enjoyable if it was a compulsory duty rather than a leisure pursuit.
What are your hobbies? When were you last able to spend some time enjoying them? If you haven't had much time for your favourite creative pastimes recently, make sure you set aside some time and space to savour and celebrate them soon.
Happy St Distaff's Day!
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