| Saint Catherine's Day | |
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| Date | 25 November |
| Next time | 25 November 2024 |
| Frequency | Annual |
Saint Catherine's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Catherine or Catterntide, is 25 November. It has retained its popularity throughout the centuries. It commemorates the martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
According to traditional accounts, St Catherine was beheaded by Emperor Maximinus II around 305 AD in Alexandria. 25 November became the commemoration date in the 10th century, and many churches and particularly nunneries in Europe were dedicated to St Catherine. In Lutheran countries, this day has also been associated with Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. [1]
Like St Martin's Day on 11 November, St Catherine's Day also marks the arrival of winter. Also like St Martin's Day, St Catherine's Day is mainly a secular holiday. The two days differ in that St Martin's Day is primarily a holiday associated with men and St Catherine's Day is associated with women.
During the medieval period, Saint Catherine's Day marked the beginning of Advent in England. [2]
Catterntide was celebrated by lacemakers. [3] A traditional celebration of St Catherine's Day, which has seen something of a revival in modern times, is the baking of 'Cattern Cakes' in honour of St Catherine. [4] [5] The rise of the internet has assisted in this process, as recipes have become more readily available. The key ingredients are bread dough, egg, sugar, lard or butter, and caraway seeds. [6]
The custom of lighting a revolving pyrotechnic display (a 'Catherine Wheel firework') [7] to celebrate the saint's feast day is assisted by the ready supply of such fireworks during the month of November, due to the secular celebration of Guy Fawkes Night earlier in the month.
In Quebec and elsewhere in French Canada, St. Catherine's Day is a special day celebrating "spinsters". Following French tradition, this celebration was seen as the last opportunity for women over 25 still single to present themselves to men still available to find themselves a suitable husband. The women would wear a certain distinctive headdress.
Over the centuries, as Quebec modernized, the age was increased to 30 years after the Quiet Revolution. According to the current tradition and rules of proper etiquette still in place today, French Canadian women passed 30 must forgo the idea of having a big wedding as many young Quebec girls dreamt of and must wear a sober dress covering arms and collarbones. Although a trend exists to raise the age to 35, it remains highly frowned upon for women over 30, and certainly those from good families, to hold large weddings and celebrations. This is also why today many Quebec women leave aside the tradition of a grand wedding and decide instead to buy a house and start a family as a sign of commitment to their partner.
St. Catherine's taffy is a candy made by French Canadian girls to honor St. Catherine, the patron saint of unmarried women on her feast day. St. Catherine's Day is sometimes known in among French-Canadians as "taffy day", a day when marriage-age girls would make taffy for eligible boys. Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, a founder of the Notre-Dame de Montréal and an early teacher in Ville-Marie, the colonial settlement that would later become Montreal, is credited with starting the tradition as a way of keeping the attention of her young pupils by placing the taffy on the path in front of her school leading to the door way. [8]
In Estonia, five parish churches and at least as many chapels have been dedicated to St. Catherine. St. Catherine's Day (Estonian : kadripäev) is still widely celebrated in modern-day Estonia. It marks the arrival of winter and is one of the more important and popular autumn days in the Estonian folk calendar. It is a day of celebration for the women of the culture. The customs for the Estonian St. Catherine's Day are generally associated with the kadrisants (kadri beggars) or kadris, which give the whole day a unique quality, although it is similar to the traditions practised on St. Martin's Day. Both require dressing up and going from door to door on the eve of the holiday to collect gifts, such as food, cloth and wool, in return for suitable songs and blessings.
As with mardi eve (the evening before St. Martin's Day), when the village youth chose a mardiisa (father), the main player on kadri eve is kadriema (mother). [9]
On Estonian farms, minding the herds and flocks were primarily the responsibility of women and therefore, St. Catherine's Day involves customs pertaining more to herd keeping than farming. In addition, both men and women may dress up as women. In comparison to the mardisants, who were generally dressed in a masculine and rough manner and often wore animal masks, the kadris wear clean and light-coloured clothing, which is in reference to the coming snow. [9]
Regarding the songs for St. Martin's Day and St. Catherine's Day, the main content difference is that the former songs wished the visited families harvest luck and the latter songs luck with the herds and flocks, particularly with the sheep. Sheep shearing was not allowed from Martinmas to St. Catherine's Day, because then the sheep would not mature. [9]
On St. Catherine's Day, in order to protect the sheep, shearing and weaving were forbidden and sewing and knitting were also occasionally banned.
St. Catherine's Day has retained its popularity throughout the centuries, including the half-century of Soviet occupation, during which no direct official obstructions to the celebrations were made, probably due to the apolitical nature of the holiday. Thus, St. Catherine's Day is still widely celebrated in modern-day Estonia. It is particularly popular among students and the rural population.
On St Catherine's Day, it is customary for unmarried women to pray for husbands, and to honour women who have reached 25 years of age but have not married—called "Catherinettes" in France. Catherinettes send postcards to each other, and friends of the Catherinettes make hats for them—traditionally using the colours yellow (faith) and green (wisdom), often outrageous—and crown them for the day. Pilgrimage is made to St Catherine's statue, and she is asked to intercede in finding husbands for the unmarried lest they "don St. Catherine's bonnet" and become spinsters. The Catherinettes are supposed to wear the hat all day long, and they are usually feted with a meal among friends. Because of this hat-wearing custom, French milliners have big parades to show off their wares on this day. [10]
The French say that before a girl reaches 25, she prays:
""Donnez-moi, Seigneur, un mari de bon lieu! Qu'il soit doux, opulent, libéral et agréable!"
(Lord, give me a well-situated husband. Let him be gentle, rich, generous, and pleasant!")
After 25, she prays:
""Seigneur, un qui soit supportable, ou qui, parmi le monde, au moins puisse passer!"
(Lord, one who is bearable, or who can at least pass as bearable in the world!")
And when she is approaching 30:
"Un tel qu'il te plaira Seigneur, je m'en contente!"
("Send whoever you want, Lord; I'll be happy!").
An English version goes, St Catherine, St Catherine, O lend me thine aid, And grant that I never may die an old maid. [10]
And there is this, a fervent French prayer:
Sainte Mia, soyez bonne | Saint Catherine, be good |
In keeping with its French heritage, New Orleans has inaugurated a hat parade to celebrate the patron saint of milliners, seamstresses and single women. [11] Inspired by the annual event of the same name in Vesoul, French city in the East of France, it is held the weekend before Thanksgiving. [12]
A New Kind of Love (1963) references St. Catherine's day demonstrating the parades and millinery demonstrations in Paris, France.
Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun makes reference to the Feast of Holy Katharine, as an annual banquet celebrated by the torturers' guild that includes allusions to the real-world holiday, including a "great spiked wheel". [13]
The Blue Nile have a song called "St. Catherine's Day", released on the collector's edition of their début album, A Walk Across the Rooftops.
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Traditions often include gathering wildflowers and green branches, weaving floral garlands, crowning a May Queen, and setting up a Maypole, May Tree or May Bush, around which people dance. Bonfires are also part of the festival in some regions. Regional varieties and related traditions include Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, the Gaelic festival Beltane, the Welsh festival Calan Mai, and May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has also been associated with the ancient Roman festival Floralia.
Father's Day is a holiday honoring one's father, or relevant father figure, as well as fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. The single most common date among world countries is the third Sunday of June, which was founded in the state of Washington, United States, by Sonora Smart Dodd in 1910.
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, also known in English as St John the Baptist Day, is a holiday celebrated on June 24 in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was brought to Canada by French settlers celebrating the traditional feast day of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. It was declared a public holiday in Quebec in 1925, with publicly financed events organized province-wide by a Comité organisateur de la fête nationale du Québec.
Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early fourth century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity and was martyred around the age of eighteen. More than 1,100 years after Catherine's martyrdom, Joan of Arc identified her as one of the saints who appeared to and counselled her.
Saint Joseph's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Joseph or the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, is in Western Christianity the principal feast day of Saint Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and legal father of Jesus Christ, celebrated on 19 March. It has the rank of a solemnity in the Catholic Church. It is a feast or commemoration in the provinces of the Anglican Communion, and a feast or festival in the Lutheran Church. Saint Joseph's Day is the Patronal Feast day for Poland as well as for Canada, persons named Joseph, Josephine, etc., for religious institutes, schools and parishes bearing his name, and for carpenters. It is also Father's Day in some Catholic countries, mainly Spain, Portugal, and Italy. It is not a holy day of obligation for Catholics in the United States.
Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland.
Saint David's Day, or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD.
Saint Stephen's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on 26 December in Western Christianity and 27 December in Eastern Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox churches that adhere to the Julian calendar mark Saint Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which places it on 9 January of the Gregorian calendar used in secular contexts. In Latin Christian denominations, Saint Stephen's Day marks the second day of Christmastide.
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. A variety of traditions have developed, linked to regions as well as religious practice.
Saint John's Eve, starting at sunset on 23 June, is the eve of the feast day of Saint John the Baptist. This is one of the very few feast days marking a saint's birth, rather than their death. The Gospel of Luke states that John was born six months before Jesus; therefore, the feast of John the Baptist was fixed on 24 June, six months before Christmas. In the Roman calendar, 24 June was the date of the summer solstice, and Saint John's Eve is closely associated with Midsummer festivities in Europe. Traditions are similar to those of May Day and include bonfires, feasting, processions, church services, and gathering wild plants.
Saint Nicholas Day, also called the Feast of Saint Nicholas, observed on 5 or 6 December in Western Christian countries, and on 19 December in Eastern Christian countries using the old church Calendar, is the feast day of Saint Nicholas of Myra; it falls within the season of Advent. It is celebrated as a Christian festival with particular regard to Saint Nicholas' reputation as a bringer of gifts, as well as through the attendance of church services.
Saint George's Day is the feast day of Saint George, notably England's patron saint, but celebrated also by Christian churches, countries, and regions of which he is the patron saint, including Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Greece, Georgia, Portugal, Romania, Syria, Lebanon, Catalonia, Alcoi, Aragon, and Rio de Janeiro.
George's Day in Spring, or Saint George's Day, is a Slavic religious holiday, the feast of Saint George celebrated on 23 April by the Julian calendar. In Croatia and Slovenia, the Roman Catholic version of Saint George's Day, Jurjevo is celebrated on 23 April by the Gregorian calendar.
Saint Martin's Day or Martinmas,, and historically called Old Halloween or Old Hallowmas Eve, is the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours and is celebrated in the liturgical year on 11 November. In the Middle Ages and early modern period, it was an important festival in many parts of Europe, particularly Germanic-speaking regions. In these regions, it marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter and the "winter revelling season". Traditions include feasting on 'Martinmas goose' or 'Martinmas beef', drinking the first wine of the season, and mumming. In some German and Dutch-speaking towns, there are processions of children with lanterns (Laternelaufen), sometimes led by a horseman representing St Martin. The saint was also said to bestow gifts on children. In the Rhineland, it is also marked by lighting bonfires.
The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul or Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul is a liturgical feast in honor of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which is observed on 29 June. The celebration is of ancient Christian origin, the date selected being the anniversary of either their death or the translation of their relics.
Catherinette was a traditional French label for a woman of twenty-five years who was still unmarried by the Feast of Saint Catherine. A special celebration was offered to them on this day and everyone wished them a swift end to their single status.
Saint Clement's Day was traditionally, and in some places still is, celebrated on 23 November, a festival between Halloween and Christmas. Pope Clement I is the patron saint of metalworkers and blacksmiths, and so these workers traditionally enjoyed a holiday on his feast day.
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil, Germany and the Philippines. It is also observed in the Dutch town of Leiden and the Australian territory of Norfolk Island. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest and of the preceding year. Various similarly named harvest festival holidays occur throughout the world during autumn. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well.
St. Catherine's Taffy is a variety of taffy made by French-Canadian families to celebrate the feast day of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which takes place annually on November 25.
Saint Patrick's Day, although a legal holiday only in Savannah, Georgia, and Suffolk County, Massachusetts, is nonetheless widely recognized and celebrated throughout the United States. It is primarily celebrated as a recognition of Irish and Irish American culture; celebrations include prominent displays of the color green, eating and drinking, religious observances, and numerous parades. The holiday has been celebrated in what is now the U.S. since 1601.
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