Every Day Is Special: lace

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November 25 - Catterntide

Posted on November 25, 2020

Another name for this holiday is St. Catherine's Day (see "Also on this date, below), and it is the feast day for St. Catherine of Alexandria. Fireworks displays called Catherine Wheel fireworks, Cattern Cakes with caraway seeds, St. Catherine's taffy, and parades with homemade or fancy milliner-made hats are all features of olden and modern celebrations.

Back in the day, Catterntide was especially celebrated by lacemakers. You may have already guessed that St. Catherine is considered the patron saint of textile making and lacemaking - also called tatting. Nottingham Trent University, in England, has held special Catterntide festivals highlighting the lace connection.

The history of lace! The Lace Archive, with more than 75,000 pieces of lace! A piano made of lace! Lace made of plastic! Lace made of icing sugar!

When I hear the word "lace," I usually think of old-fashioned doilies on furniture, or of course tablecloths and wedding dresses. All of those things are beautiful...

...But lace can be so much more! There is modern and even avant-garde (think outrageous!) lace-based fashion; there are lace stencils to paint lace patterns on walls - and even lace-patterned murals and graffiti!!

Also on this date:

Statehood Day in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Blasé Day

St. Catherine's Day

Anniversary of the development of cable television

Independence Day in Suriname

Evacuation Day

Artist Albert Henry Krehbiel's birthday

Anniversary of Moquegua in Peru

Anniversary of "Christmas Eve, Sarajevo" reaching #3

Vajiravudh Day in Thailand

Tie One On Day in the U.S.

(Day before Thanksgiving in the U.S.)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

November holidays
November birthdays
Historical anniversaries in November

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

December holidays
December birthdays
Historical anniversaries in December

October 1 – National Lace Day

Posted October 1, 2016

Today we celebrate something most of us think of as a very fancy decoration: lace.

Lace is a kind of fabric made of yarn or thread knotted, cut, knitted, or crocheted in an open pattern that is more weblike than woven fabric.

In the olden days, linen or silk threads were used to make lace. Even threads of precious silver and gold were used in lace-making. Now cotton thread is most common, although synthetic fibers are also used. Some artists make lace with threads made of silver or copper.

There are a lot of different lace-making traditions, and there is no clear data about where and when lace was invented. It's likely that lace was invented more than once, arising out of other related needle crafts.