DID YOU KNOW:

DISTAFF DAY (January 7): This was the first day after Epiphany (January 6), when women were expected to return to their spinning following the Christmas holiday. A Distaff is the staff that women used for holding the flax or wool in spinning. (Hence, the term "distaff" refers to women's work or the maternal side of the family.)

PLOUGH MONDAY: Traditionally, the first Monday after Epiphany was called Plough Monday because it was the day that men returned to their plough, or daily work, following the Christmas holiday. (Every few years, Plough Monday and Distaff Day fall on the same day.) It was customary at this time for farm laborers to draw a plough through the village, soliciting money for a "plough light," which was kept burning in the parish church all year. One proverb notes that
"Yule is come and Yule is gone, and we have feasted well; so Jack must to his flail again and Jenny to her wheel."