Did you know?
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Today, January 7th is:
Distaff Day
After the 12-day CHRISTMAS celebration ended on TWELFTH NIGHT or EPIPHANY, St. Distaff’s Day
was traditionally the day on which women resumed their chores,
symbolized by the distaff, a tool used in spinning flax or wool. It was
also called Rock Day, from the German word rocken—“rock”
being another name for the distaff. The “spear side” and the “distaff
side” were legal terms used to distinguish the inheritance of male from
that of female children, and the distaff eventually became a synonym
for the female sex as a whole. Distaff Day was not really a church
festival, but it was widely observed at one time in England.
Although the women had to return to work after Twelfth Night was
over, the men apparently had plenty of time to amuse themselves by
setting the flax on fire, in return for which they would get buckets of
water dumped on their heads. From Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary |
Quotation of the Day
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Work
Sir James M. Barrie "Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else."
From Respectfully Quoted
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