Distaff Day and Plow Monday

Woman with distaff in left hand, and spindle in right hand.

Distaff Day (January7) is the day, historically, when women returned to work after the Christmas holidays.

And Plow Monday (the first Monday after Epiphany) is the traditional day in Europe for men to restart their farm work. 

Our garden isn't large, but I think of it as my miniature farm. Normally, it's too wet at this time in the Pacific Northwest to do any digging, but many other tasks are possible, and it's good motivation for me to have this set date each year to start my “farm work”. 

Agenda for today & this week: 

1. Spindle Meditation
2. Journal queries
3. Housework
4. Tool blessing ceremony
5. Sort seeds
6. Daily garden visits
7. Make plough pudding
8. Kitchen blessing
1. Spindle Meditation: 

A student using a drop spindle to make yarn.

Distaff Day is named for the distaff, a stick-like tool that held fibers while a woman used a drop spindle to spin thread. 

Spinning and weaving were never-ending chores. Most women and girls would spin thread while also cooking, caring for children, or minding the sheep. Because women were seen always with a distaff in hand, it became the symbol of “women’s work”. 

But during the Christmas season women took a break from spinning. January 7th was the traditional day for women to start back to work, and so was called Distaff Day.

I’m not much of a spinner, but I always pull out my spindle on Distaff Day, and spin a little wonky yarn. As I work with it I ask the Spirit to give me the ability to slow down, be present, and see clearly.

2. Journal queries:

The Spirit as Goddess is often portrayed as a spinner: Athena, Isis, and Grandmother Spider Woman are all spinners and weavers. Amaterasu spins and weaves sunbeams. The Three Fates control destiny by spinning the thread of life. Frigga works the heavenly spindle to weave the clouds; she has the ability to feel and see clearly.
So, I celebrate three things today:

• My love of the fiber arts.
• My start back to work (especially housework- cleaning and caring for my home, and making a sanctuary for my family).
• And how I create my own destiny with thought and deed.

What are the threads of my life now and how well do they weave together?
Where can I simplify the pattern? 
Where can I add richness?

3. Housework:

Every year on Distaff Day I kick off a month of deep cleaning. My house has certain mold-related issues that are best done before we get any deeper into winter.  Also, winter is a good time for a few big indoor cleaning jobs. I take it one room at a time, and this week I'll clean in the kitchen:

Soaking oven racks in soapsuds.

• Monday-- Clean the oven: Remove the racks and soak them in the sink. Turn on the oven's self-cleaning mode (which takes 2 to 6 hours). Let the oven cool for at least 2 hours then sweep out the ashes. Wipe the oven clean with a wet rag.

• Tuesday-- Shine the sink: Fill the sink with hot water, add bleach, and let it sit for 1 hour. Rinse well. Scrub with cleanser and rinse again. Clean around the rim of the sink and the faucets with a brush.

• Wednesday-- Scrub the mold from the windows with detergent and warm water, then use a solution of ¼-cup bleach in 1-quart water. Wait 20 minutes and repeat. Wait another 20 minutes. Apply Borax solution and do not rinse, to help prevent mold from growing again. When it's dry, touch up the paint on the windows.
• Thursday-- Clean the refrigerator: Take everything out, wipe the shelves, and clean the top and outside.
• Friday-- Sweep and mop the floor.

A jumble of garden tools, sprinklers, gloves, 
and a birdfeeder...

4. Tool Blessing Ceremony:

Before farmwork starts on Plow Monday, a ceremonial plow is blessed at church, then paraded through the streets to collect money for the parish.

Better.

Today I clean and sharpen my garden tools and oil the wooden handles. While I work, I focus on the purpose and history of these tools: All the planting of food that they have helped with, and the pruning of trees, and the trimming of grass. I clean the dirt out of my storage basket, and put everything away again in better order.

I make the act of cleaning into a blessing: “Bless these tools to do their work”.

5. Sort seeds:

Sometime this week I will pull my seeds out of the refrigerator, and go through the seed catalog to make a list of new seeds to buy; I want to buy some seeds before February 1st for the seed-blessing ceremony on Imbalc.

6. Daily Garden Visits:

Junco in our apple tree, against the gray sky of January.

I've been out in my garden less since winter started. But even in January, the garden offers me connections with the earth and sky, the seasons, and the Spirit of God. My heart fills when I visit my garden even for a few minutes each day, to see the buds poking up and watch the changes in the trees. 

Here are the tasks that inspire me to step out into my garden this week:

• Tour the garden and make note of things to do this week and this year. 
• Visit a different garden bed each day and pull just a few weeds or dead plants. 
• Take my camera out into the garden to collect images. 
• Check the bird feeders and refill them. 
• On sunny days, drop everything and go outside to prune: This is a good time to prune the apple, grape, and summer flowering bushes like the lilac and hydrangea.
• Another sunny day job: Rake up the last of the Hawthorn leaves and berries, and move them to mulch the paths.

7. Make Plough Pudding:

This is a steamed meat pudding traditionally made in Britain on Plow Monday- very rich and yummy. See the recipe here.

8. Kitchen Blessing: 

The Orthodox Church has a tradition of blessing homes within a few weeks after Epiphany. The family prepares by cleaning the house, and then a priest comes to sprinkle holy water and pray for each family member, living and dead.

So what is a blessing? The Church recognizes a blessing as a statement or prayer that invokes God’s favor and power, and prepares one to receive grace, or in the case of a house blessing, prepares the space and those within it.

My own understanding is that the cleaning itself is a blessing, and that sitting still in a newly cleaned room is a good way to remember that we are each blessed, always and forever.

My custom is to bless each room this month, first by cleaning it, and then by remembering. At the end of the week, when I've finished my kitchen cleaning, I will light candles, sit quietly with my coffee, and savor the blessing of a clean kitchen.

I may also say a prayer to the Spirit of the hearth and home. This prayer is an adaptation of the Greek Orthodox House Blessing:

Peace be to this house and to all who live here. 

May the Spirit of Love inspire each of us 
to develop our talents, 

and contribute to the benefit 
of our family and our community.

Make our house a haven for us all, 

and a place of warmth and caring 
for all our friends who visit us.

Enlighten us with the brilliance of grace, 

so that, as we go into the world, 
we might clearly see our way.

Amen