Saint Catherine’s day falls on 25 November and has been celebrated in many countries over several decades. It commemorates the martyrdom of St Catherine of Alexandria, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
It was the custom for unmarried women to pray for a husband. It’s a French tradition to send a card to unmarr
ied women in honour of St Catherine for Old Maid’s Day. Women who reached 25 years of age but had not yet married were called Catherinettes.
In years gone by, on St Catherine’s Day, women who had reached 25 years of age but were not married would be honoured and called Catherinettes.
They would send postcards to each other, while their friends made hats for them. The hats were traditionally made using the colours yellow (for faith) and green (for wisdom).
Crowned for the day with these outrageous hats, the Catherinettes were usually the guest of honour at meals with friends.
The Catherinettes would make a pilgrimage to St. Catherine’s statue. They would ask her for help finding husbands for the unmarried lest they “don St. Catherine’s bonnet” and become spinsters.
Because of this hat-wearing custom, French milliners had big parades to show off their wares. Over time St. Catherine became the patron saint of unmarried women and of those employed in the textile and hat mak
ing industries.
This odd custom traces its history back to a story from the 4th Century. It seems that Catherine, a young girl was killed by Emperor Maxentius when she rejected his amorous advances.
Furious with her, h
e reportedly strapped the unfortunate maiden to a torture machine with revolving wheels designed to tear her to shreds.
According to legend, she was saved by divine intervention when the wheel fell apart. How wonderful! Except that her luck eventually ran out as she was later beheaded for converting people to Christianity. It
is said that the Catherine Wheel revolving firework is named after her.
The prayer to Saint Catherine would go like this:
Sainte Catherine, soyez bonne
Nous n’avons plus d’espoir
qu’en vous
Vous êtes notre patronne
Ayez pitié de nous
Nous vous implorons à genoux
Aidez-nous à nous marier
Pitié, donnez-nous un époux
Car nous brûlons d’aimer
Daignez écouter la prière
De nos cœurs
fortement épris
Oh, vous qui êtes notre mère
Donnez-nous un mari
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