St. Catherine was said to have been born in Alexandria, Egypt in 287 CE daughter of Constus, the governor during the reign of emperor Maximian. She was said to be extremely intelligent, a scholar, a member of the nobility, and possibly a princess. This belief is attested to in her assignment as the patron saint of philosophers and scholars.
Some historians think she might be a jumble of women, and represent the many women of the period who died for their faith. Thought of in this way she becomes the archetypal figure of the Virgin Martyr, one who belongs only to herself and God, and stands beyond the conventions of the day. When challenged, she defies becoming the property of a man and pays with her life to maintain her sacred sovereignty.
Right here at the beginning of her story, we see a repeating theme, the persecution of women, whether Pagan or Christian, throughout Europe and the West.
Structures of power whether pre-Christian or part of Christendom unleash their fear in a deadly fury on women. Especially on women who don’t fit the prescribed social mold and break free from its constraints.
Like her counterpart St. Martin, we find Catherine converting to Christianity as a teenager, after having received a vision of Mary and Jesus. These early centuries of the common era were a tumultuous time of shifting power and beliefs. Changing religions would have been both a rebellion and an assertion of independence for young Catherine.
Catherine is said to have been a powerful orator, and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers believed to have the power to ward off the plague.
Joan of Arc said that St. Catherine spoke to her in visions preparing and equipping her for her mission to lead an army and restore the French king.
St. Catherine had a large and devoted female following. Her mystical marriage to Christ was a source of deep inspiration and mysticism for women. Mysticism and extreme piety for women of that age also provided an escape route from forced marriages and the constraints society placed on them.
The Martyrdom of Catherine
When persecutions of Christians began under Emperor Maxentius, Catherine rebuked him for his cruelty.
To discredit and publicly humiliate Catherine the Emperor summoned fifty of his most accomplished philosophers and orators to debate Catherine. But Catherine's quick mind and powerful speech prevailed. Many of the Emperor's orators converted to Christianity, which led to their immediate execution.
When intellectual humiliation failed the Emperor had Catherine jailed and beaten for twelve days.
It is said that those who knew and loved her wept for her constantly so severe were the beatings. Yet, when the prison door was opened a fragrant perfume and brilliant light poured forth, and Catherine, more radiant than ever emerged. It was believed that while in prison angels brought her healing salve and a dove from heaven fed her daily.
Arguments and torture had not broken her, so Emperor Maxentius proposed marriage, which she refused declaring Christ as her spouse.
Enraged the Emperor condemned her to death on the breaking wheel, what is now known as a 'Catherine Wheel', and subsequently her emblem in the art that depicts her. Miraculously at her touch, the wheel fell apart.
Finally, the Emperor ordered her beheading. Even in death Catherine triumphs, for when her head fell from her body it was not blood but a milk-like substance that flowed from her neck, perhaps the milk of human kindness.
After her death, angels allegedly took her body to Mount Sinai, where, according to legend, it was discovered about 800 CE. In the Middle Ages, when the story of her mystical marriage to Christ was widely circulated, she was one of the most popular saints and one of the most important virgin martyrs. ~ Encyclopedia Britannica
In Catherine’s martyrdom story we see the many ways that power has tried to control women. Efforts to discredit their intellect, physical abuse, ownership through marriage, and finally erasure through death.
Catterntide Celebrations
The background of her life and hagiography are just the beginning of St. Catherine’s story. Her influence on women winds its way down through the ages.
Catterntide, the celebration of St. Catherine's feast day is and always has been a secular holiday. If Martinmas is the gateway into winter for men, Catterntide opens the gateway into winter for women.
Each special day marked the shift in the kind of work and daily life men and women would make as the winter weather approached.
You might be thinking 'Well, that's very medieval, the segregation of men and women with distinct roles in society.’ Yet, when we look into these ancient customs we find that the work of both men and women was honored, sacred, and vital to survival.
Catterntide is most closely associated with lace makers, especially in England. Throughout the year these women, who may have been part of a guild, (there are records of women-only guilds for the manufacture of silk and textiles in other places like Paris and Cologne) put aside a little money allowing them to take the day off on St. Catherine’s Day, rest their hands from labor, drink tea and eat the traditional Cattern Cakes.
In some places, Catterntide marked the beginning of Advent, the opening of the winter season. This brought peasant women inside from working in the fields. Their work now changed to carding, spinning, weaving, knitting, and mending. Broadly speaking textile work, just like the more specialized lace makers.
In some places, for example in Estonia, shearing, and weaving were forbidden. Sewing and knitting were also occasionally banned on St. Catherine's Day
Tools of the Trade and Tools of Power
As I’m always seeking threads of connection to a larger, older story my mind automatically goes to the distaff. A distaff is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the un-spun fibers of flax or wool, keeping them untangled, and making spinning easier.
The distaff is a symbol of women’s work. The distaff itself has its own winter holiday in January.
If we peel back the layers and go deep, we find that women’s work is a metaphor for spinning and weaving. Far back in the mists of ancient memory we find that “women’s work” is a metaphor for the power to create, weave the web of life, spin the destinies of souls, utter profound prophecy and activate the inner sight of divination.
These have always been the spiritual gifts, skills, and abilities associated with women that link them back to the memory of the forgotten goddess.
According to author and historian Max Dashu…
"the distaff symbolism… is not a theory but an irrefutable reality….The symbolism of the [distaff] emphasizes a connection between spinning, seiðr, (Norse female shamanic power), and causation.
It evokes a wider European pattern of distaff-bearing goddesses and threefold Fates or female ancestors.
It connects the shamanic ways of the völur (a seeress in Norse folklore) with the early medieval women’s sacraments…So the seiðstafr [aka distaff] of the völva belongs to a wide spectrum of female potency.”
Under the surface, as the subtext of women’s work, is the understanding, however suppressed, that the distaff is symbolic of women’s power.
We might even think of the distaff as the original magic wand.
St. Catherine, a noblewoman, powerful orator, scholar, mystic, autonomous virgin, and miraculous healer takes on cosmic and archetypal proportions when coupled with the distaff and women’s work.
However disguised it was during the middle ages, Catterntide was the gateway for women in winter. At rest from work in the fields or the tedious, meticulous, and highly skilled work of lace making, they paused to recognize and ponder their power as they sat by the fire spinning their destinies and nibbling on Cattern Cakes. This exemplifies the undercurrent of this feast day's potency in the unconscious and accounts for its popularity through the ages.
Little baked cakes, by the way, have for millennia been used as an offering to the goddess. Cattern Cakes are just one more iteration of them.
Should you want to celebrate Catterntide I'm sharing with you this recipe from the English Nottingham Lacemakers.
If you make them let me know in the comments.
ingredients
Units: US
9 ounces self raising flour
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 ounces currants
2 ounces ground almonds
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
6 ounces caster sugar
4 ounces melted butter
1 medium egg, beaten
extra sugar, for sprinkling
extra cinnamon, for sprinkling
directions
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl: flour, cinnamon, currants, ground almonds, caraway seeds and sugar.
Add the melted butter and the beaten egg and mix well to give a soft dough.
Roll the dough out on a floured board, into a rectangle about 12" x 10" - 30cm x 25cm.
Brush the dough with water and sprinkle with the extra sugar and cinnamon to taste.
Gently roll the dough up like a Swiss roll, not too tightly, and then cut the rolled up dough into 3/4" - 2cm slices.
Place these slices on to a well greased and lined baking tray or biscuit/cookie sheet, making sure that they are spaced well apart.
Bake in a pre-heated oven 200C/400F/Gas 6 for about 10 minutes, or until golden and crispy to the top.
Allow the cattern cakes to cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with extra caraway seeds, sugar, and cinnamon if you like.
Store in an airtight tin for up to 7 days.
On a slight deviation from your really interesting article, the title attracted my attention because, up here in the dark wet and rainy town in the north-west of England where I live, there used to be a pub called the Bridgewater Arms, except everyone who knew the pub called it by the name of a long-dead landlady. Her name was Catherine and the pub was always known as “Owld Cattern’s” - owld being the Lancashire pronunciation of old, similar to the Scots auld. Also when it’s cold - like today - it is “cowd” and the generation before me used to say the were “starved” meaning really cold, not hungry. 😊 ❤️ ॐ
What an intriguing read! Thank you for sharing. I particularly enjoyed the thought of a distaff as the original magic wand. :) Having immersed myself in reading all I can about the Fates and the Norns, it's interesting to come across your article today.