January Folklore: Distaff Day, When Women Get Crafty

Tomorrow, January 7th, is Distaff Day. It was when women were historically supposed to return to spinning after the Christmas holidays, but often got up to more fun and games than work. A 19th century poem by Robert Herrick called St Distaff’s Day suggests this was also a time when men and women played pranks on each other, but that might be 19th century fakelore. I’ve also heard it said that the women enjoyed being back in a space away from the demands of men.

One of my resolutions this year was to write about seasonal customs. I was reminded about Distaff Day by my artist friend Su Jolly, who is also an accomplished spinner, weaver and knitter. However much fun women made for themselves on Distaff Day,  Su pointed out: “For women in historical times when spinning was relentless work to keep the household clothed, and bring in valuable extra income, the [Yuletide] break must have been invaluable!”

Distaff Day is less famous than Plough Monday, when the men returned to tilling the land, but women’s chores have always been less recognised than what blokes did, haven’t they?

In medieval times it was called Saint Distaff Day, which was apparently a deliberate joke as there never was a real saint of that name. A distaff is a tool used to hold wool or other fibre when spinning it into yarn. It became a symbol of women’s domestic life, as spinning was done almost universally by women of all classes and most cultures. The word distaff can even be a term for the matrilineal branch of a family.

Su mentioned that some modern craft groups celebrate Distaff Day. January 7th is a good time to get on with any creative things you have planned, but especially fibre art.

I will be spinning a yarn tomorrow – but it will be the story kind, rather than wool. I’m taking part in a challenge called Deadlines for Writers, to create a short story every month. January’s fiction prompt goes live on Distaff Day.

You can find out more about seasonal customs and crafts in my book Rounding the Wheel of the Year.

The picture at the top is The Spinner by Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl, a Public Domain image shared from Wikipedia  The photo right shows Su Jolly’s modern spinning wheel. The picture below shows copies of my book.

Other previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/10/su-jolly-i-met-kent-artist-who.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2018/08/magical-dolls-how-to-make-knotted-wool.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/09/craft-ojo-de-dios-amulet-made-at.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/01/pagan-eye-horse-brasses-in-south-london.html

To read more posts like this visit A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk