Convoluted connections, #468 in a series...
Today is not only Xmas Day in Eastern Orthodox countries, but it's also Distaff Day.
WTF is that? I hear you ask.
From the Almanac website:
Distaff DayOh, they knew how to have fun in the 16th century!
The day after Epiphany was traditionally the one on which women went back to work after the 12-day Christmas celebration.A distaff is the wooden rod (staff) that holds the 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.
As is often the case, it’s 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, while the women, lying in wait, would retaliate with humour by dousing them with buckets of water.
The English poet Robert Herrick wrote:
If the maids a-spinning goe
Burn their flax and fire their tow.
Bring the pails of water then
Let the maids bewash the men.
As is my wont, I have chosen a most "appropriate" choon for the day:
Oh, dear goddess, Engelbert Pumpernickel. I can't. But I might have to listen to Blood, Sweat & Tears.
ReplyDeleteI love a bit of "The Hump"! The most successful Anglo-Indian singer in the Western World, I believe... Jx
DeleteMr Mitchell...you beat me to it!But I do have a fondness for the Pumpernickel's "Bicyclettes de Belsize"
DeleteOh, so much disrespect for the man whose career spans six decades, including classics such as Release Me [the refrain "Please release me, let me go!" from which my Nan would often sing when she was on the loo] in 1967 and Lesbian Seagull for Beavis and Butt-Head in 1996. Oh! And that sombre thing he did for Eurovision in 2012... Jx
DeleteSuch jolly japes from our 16th century cousins!
ReplyDeleteIt's enough to get your wimple all a'flutter! Jx
DeletePlease Release Me is one of the first tunes I remember hearing on the radio.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, back to the 16th century - I like the idea of not thinking about any sort of work for 12 days - maybe this should be readopted?
Sx
Now you have another earworm, I imagine.
DeleteI adopted the "not thinking about work for twelve days" mantra the moment I closed the laptop on 23rd December... Jx
In Poland they have a day when traditionally the girls throw water at the boys. Perhaps this is the origin of that.
ReplyDeleteSure it's not vodka? Jx
Delete