Waiting for the band

I received a lovely new tensioned Lazy Kate for Christmas and I was spinning away, just getting ready to use it and - bing - the drive band broke. Now, I'm waiting eagerly for my replacement band to arrive and I ran across this poem about Saint Distaff's Day on January 7.

 I thought I would share with you - historically, it was the day after the Christmas festivals ended (the 12 days of Christmas), and most women went back to work with their spinning… but it was also a day of pranks and horsing around.

Saint Distaffs Day, or the morrow after Twelfth day

by Robert Herrick,

Partly worke and partly play
Ye must on S. Distaffs day:
From the Plough soone free your teame;
Then come home and fother them.
If the Maides a spinning goe,
Burne the flax, and fire the tow:
Scorch their plackets, but beware
That ye singe no maiden-haire.
Bring in pailes of water then,
Let the Maides bewash the men.
Give S. Distaffe all the right,
Then bid Christmas sport good-night;
And next morrow, every one
To his owne vocation.

You can also hear 12 lovely versions read on Librivox here!

And, now, I'll go back to my knitting - not spinning, sigh!