I make English styles of Bobbin Lace as a hobby and have a book called "A Calendar of Feasts Cattern Cakes & Lace", which I believe is now out of print. This book is full of old customs for lace makers in the past and is set out month by month. Lace makers would make Cattern Cakes on St. Catherine's day and other foods on other feast days etc. St Catherine was, and still is, the patron saint of lacemakers. The book is not only for those interested in the history of lace makers as it covers a few other handicrafts and the customs that went with them in Britain, though mainly it is concerned with lace and lacemakers of the past. It contains recipes for many of the foods mentioned in the book. The book is by Julia Jones & Barbara Deer and the ISBN is 0-86318-252-6 if anyone is interested in finding a copy on line, probably second hand. For December 21st. it mentions Gooding and that it "was an excuse for begging Christmas food in return for little presents, often of evergreen. "This day was also called Doleing and St. Thomas Dole consisted of some flour to make bread for Christmas. Often a wealthy farmer would donate a bag of grain, which the local miller would grind for no charge and distribute to the poor." The page goes on:- "For some St. Thomas' Eve, the 20th, was considered to be very holy, and no work was done at all. Young unmarried girls in many areas used to place a sprig of evergreen under their pillows when they went to bed on this night, in the expectations of dreaming of their future husbands. Evergreens were extremely significant in pagan times, symbolising the perennial fertility of Nature, they were often used for divination at the time of the solstice." On the same page is:- "A quaint gardening tradition is still continued in many areas, in which broad beans are always planted on St. Thomas' Day. In the South West of England this is done instead on Guy Fawkes night, Nov. 5th, Beans were considered to have a supernatural significance, and linked sometimes with doom, if one bean in the row came up white, a death in the family would be feared." There is also a traditional rhyme given on the same page. "St. Thomas gray, St. Thomas gray Longest night and shortest day." A type of Bobbin lace was made at Downton Wiltshire where the lace makers had their own style of lace bobbin. This page below is from the Salisbury & South Wilts Museum and shows a couple of examples of Downton lace. http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/collections/costume/downton-lace.html Regards Jenny DeAngelis Spain.

There are 39 copies at Amazon.uk ranging from one penny to 17 pounds <G> Eliz On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Jenny De Angelis <jennyda2@gmail.com> wrote: > I make English styles of Bobbin Lace as a hobby and have a book called > "A Calendar of Feasts Cattern Cakes & Lace", which I believe is now out of > print.  This book is full of old customs for lace makers in the past and is > set out month by month. Lace makers would make Cattern Cakes on St. > Catherine's day and other foods on other feast days etc.  St Catherine was, > and still is, the patron saint of lacemakers. > > The book is not only for those interested in the history of lace makers as > it covers a few other handicrafts and the customs that went with them in > Britain, though mainly it is concerned with lace and lacemakers of the past. > It contains recipes for many of the foods mentioned in the book. > > The book is by Julia Jones & Barbara Deer and the ISBN is > 0-86318-252-6 if anyone is interested in finding a copy on line, probably > second hand. > > For December 21st. it mentions Gooding and that it "was an excuse for > begging Christmas food in return for little presents, often of evergreen. > "This day was also called Doleing and St. Thomas Dole consisted of some > flour to make bread for Christmas.  Often a wealthy farmer would donate a > bag of grain, which the local miller would grind for no charge and > distribute to the poor." > > The page goes on:- > "For some St. Thomas' Eve, the 20th, was considered to be very holy, and no > work was done at all.  Young unmarried girls in many areas used to place a > sprig of evergreen under their pillows when they went to bed on this night, > in the expectations of dreaming of their future husbands.  Evergreens were > extremely significant in pagan times, symbolising the perennial fertility of > Nature, they were often used for divination at the time of the solstice." > > On the same page is:- > "A quaint gardening tradition is still continued in many areas, in which > broad beans are always planted on St. Thomas' Day.  In the South West of > England this is done instead on Guy Fawkes night, Nov. 5th, Beans were > considered to have a supernatural significance, and linked sometimes with > doom, if one bean in the row came up white, a death in the family would be > feared." > > There is also a traditional rhyme given on the same page. > "St. Thomas gray, St. Thomas gray > Longest night and shortest day." > > A type of Bobbin lace was made at Downton Wiltshire where the lace makers > had their own style of lace bobbin.  This page below is from the Salisbury & > South Wilts Museum and shows a couple of examples of Downton lace. > http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/collections/costume/downton-lace.html > > Regards > Jenny DeAngelis > Spain. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-WILTSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

On Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:26:34 -0000, Jenny De Angelis <jennyda2@gmail.com> wrote: > I make English styles of Bobbin Lace as a hobby and have a book called > "A Calendar of Feasts Cattern Cakes & Lace", which I believe is now out > of print. This book is full of old customs for lace makers in the past > and is set out month by month. Hi Jenny, Thank you for the information about St. Thomas's Day being called Doleing. I didn't know that before. I put "Doleing Day" into Google and have had a number of hits. Another term is Mumping Day, which is used in Gloucestershire. I've just put "Mumping Day" into Google and there are references to that on St. Thomas's Day, too. In looking around these sites I've discovered that in Warwickshire children would say they were 'going a corning'. In some places the people doleing out the gifts were given sprigs of holly or mistletoe by those going 'a-thomasing', a-gooding' or 'a-mumping'. You mentioned the sprigs of evergreen being put under the pillows of unmarried girls on 20th. December, the Eve of St. Thomas. I hadn't heard of that custom. Learning about these old British traditions makes this time of year more interesting and takes one's mind off snow:-) Josephine -- Josephine Jeremiah www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com

On Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:26:34 -0000, Jenny De Angelis <jennyda2@gmail.com> wrote: > Lace makers would make Cattern Cakes on St.Catherine's day and other > foods on other feast days etc. St Catherine was, and still is, the > patron saint of lacemakers. Cattern Cakes and St. Catherine's Day on 25th. November are mentioned on the following interesting web page: A CALENDER OF LACEMAKERS CELEBRATIONS http://bobbins.lacefairy.com/Bobbins/BobbinMuseum/calender.htm There is a reference to Cattern Cakes in an extract from Rev. W.H. Jones`s History of Bradford on Avon, which is on this web page about St. Catherine's Almshouses: http://www.freshford.com/st.katherines -- Josephine Jeremiah www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com

On Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:26:34 -0000, Jenny De Angelis <jennyda2@gmail.com> wrote: > Lace makers would make Cattern Cakes on St. Catherine's day and other > foods on other feast daysetc. St Catherine was, and still is, the > patron saint of lacemakers. My husband asked me what Cattern cakes are and I was able to show him the recipe in Theodora Fitzgibbon's book A Taste of England the West Country: In Food and Pictures (1972). There is a photograph, opposite the recipe, of lacemaker, Mrs. Woodgate, of Honiton, Devon, who helped to make the Coronation dress of Queen Victoria. The recipe is for little spiced cakes with currants or raisins, the pastry being cut into strips and rolled around in the shape of a Catherine wheel. Recipes for Cattern cakes can be found by putting "Cattern cakes""recipe" into Google. -- Josephine Jeremiah www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com