In days gone by each small area of the country had its own specialisms. Yeovil, I believe, made gloves. Melton Mowbray, pork pies. Luton had straw hats, and after that it made cars such as the Vauxhall Shove-it. Northamptonshire made boots and shoes.
And between the straw hat world and that of boots, from Woburn to Northampton to Wellingborough to Bedford, they made lace.
Husborne Crawley being in the Lace Belt, we've done some checking and sure enough in the 19th Century we had lace makers up at Church End. Cottage work and women's work and vicious it were on the eyes, huddled around a candle.
But on 25 November ever year the Lace Makers had a day off for St Catherine's Day. They would eat Cattern Cakes flavoured with caraway seeds and have a nice cup of tea. I'm thinking it wasn't the wildest of festivals but it was at least a relief frrom squinting at lace. So today we're lighting a tea light and raising a beaker of something not totally unlike tea, to celebrate those who went before, slaving in the cold with worn-down down fingers so rich ladies could have frilly knickers.
Given that the lace makers would probably share a candle using glass globes filled with melted snow to magnify the light (See Lori the Lace Fairy's page for pictures http://lace.lacefairy.com/Lace/Gallery/Lamps.html ) and that St Catherine was also the one who was killed on a breaking wheel and has had a firework named after her, I forsee a potentially interesting Beaker ceremony should you wish to celebrate this feast day again next year!
ReplyDeleteHelen - you may be right. Although we did let off a Catherine Wheel tonight. Of course - I say "Catherine Wheel", I mean an old cartwheel we pushed down the hill after soaking it in petrol and setting it on fire. Last we saw of Burton he was running down the road screaming.
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