Even though I guess a lot of people don’t celebrate it, today is Distaff Day.
A distaff is a wooden rod (staff) that holds flax or wool on a spinning wheel. The term distaff came to refer to both women’s work and the female branch (distaff side) of the family. Traditionally, Distaff Day marked the day when the women went back to spinning after the 12-day Christmas celebration.
Anyhow, even as today, it was hard to go back to work after the holidays and not much got done. The women’s husbands would mischievously try to set fire to the flax on their wives’ distaffs. The women would lie in wait and retaliate by dousing the husbands with buckets of water.
Distaff Day is also called Roc Day or Rock Day and is sometimes referred to as Saint Distaff’s Day. Recently some sewing and craft groups have taken up celebrating Distaff Day as part of their New Year celebrations.
So happy Distaff Day!!
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