The season of All Hallows is coming to a close, but before we leap ahead to midwinter, we have another three festivals to end this month of November with. These festivals are very much part and parcel of this season of ancient feasts and seamlessly follow on from All Hallows, Guy Fawkes Night and Martinmas (see my previous Substack articles). The first of these festivals is St Clement’s Day which takes place at Old Martinmas on 23rd November. It is said that Clement was banished from Rome and set to work in a stone quarry. Upon his arrival he soon realised that there was no drinking water for the prisoners. Looking up, Clement noticed a lamb standing on a hill and decided to make his way over to it. He struck the ground with his pickaxe where the lamb had previously stood and brought forth a spring of pure water. Seeing this miracle, many of the prisoners along with some of the local pagans converted to Christianity. To punish him, Clement was tied to an anchor and drowned in the Black Sea. Angels created a deep sea tomb for him which can be seen once a year at a particularly low tide. The anchor in question was made from iron and this was a good enough reason for blacksmiths to make Clement their patron saint. St Clement eventually replaced Wayland, the old Saxon smith god who gradually faded from memory.
There is an ancient legend that tells the tale of King Alfred holding a contest to find the most gifted craftsman in the kingdom. The blacksmith believed wholeheartedly that he would win, however, the tailor made the king a new coat which ended up influencing Alfred’s final decision. The smith was furious and decided to stop working. Soon enough, all the weapons and tools in the kingdom were falling to pieces with no one to repair them. Alfred’s men attempted to do the smith’s work but failed miserably, knocking over the anvil and shattering it to pieces. It was only when St Clement appeared to Alfred in ghostly form that the king confessed that he had been influenced by the tailor’s coat. Hearing that the king had now awarded the smith first prize, the tailor angrily slashed the smith’s apron and that is why until this day smiths’ aprons are ragged.
Blacksmiths went Clementing today which involved torchlight processions with mock anvils and axes while parading an effigy of St Clement dressed in a grey wig, beard and smith’s apron. In some regions, a blacksmith would dress up as Old Clem wearing a long grey beard and a pipe in his mouth while carrying a pair of tongs and a hammer. Of course, several pubs were visited along the way! This day was very popular in the village of Twyford in Hampshire where there was the custom of Firing the Anvil. Gunpowder was crammed into a hole in the side of an anvil and set alight. The explosion would shoot the anvil right up into the air and the explosion could be heard over a mile away. Blacksmiths living in other parts of Britain would fire guns and in Cambridge, bakers celebrated 23rd of November with a Bakers’ Clem annual supper.
In the Midlands, it was traditional to go alms collecting for fruit or money and in the west Midlands, the mayor of Walsall threw pennies and apples at the local children in the name of St Clement. In Ripon, north Yorkshire, choristers handed out apples skewered on twigs from a box tree. Despite being a saint who drowned, St Clement was popular amongst mariners due to his association with anchors. Fishermen from the seaside town of Tenby in Wales celebrated today with roast goose and rice pudding. Clement is also the patron saint of lighthouse keepers.
St Clement is mentioned in the children’s nursery rhyme and game of Oranges and Lemons.
Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St Clement’s.
You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St Martin’s.
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.
I’m sure I don’t know,
Says the great bell at Bow.
Because many of you enjoyed baking your own Soul Cakes after I had shared the recipe in my All Hallows’ article, I decided to include some more traditional recipes for these feast days as well.
St Clement’s Tarts Recipe
For the pastry - 8 oz (200g) plain flour 5 oz (125g) margarine 2 tbsp water The juice and peel of 1 orange
For the filling - the peel of 1 lemon 3 oz (75g) butter 3 oz (75) sugar 2 eggs A quarter tsp vanilla essence
To make the pastry, put the margarine, water and one third of the flour into a mixing bowl and cream with a fork. Stir in the remaining flour to form a firm dough then knead on a floured board until smooth. Roll out the pastry and line the tart cases. To make the filling, separate the egg yolks and whites then finely chop the orange and lemon peels. Cream the butter and sugar together and beat in the egg yolks. Add the orange juice, chopped peel and vanilla essence. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture. Pour into the pastry cases and bake in the oven (400 F/200 C) for 25 minutes. Serve cold. If you do not have small pastry cases you could always bake one large tart instead.
The next festival is the feast of St Catherine of Alexandria (also known as Cattern or Cathern Day in England) on 25th November. Women would dress up in men’s clothes and visit their neighbours for a spot of Cattern Cake known as a ‘wigg’ made with caraway seeds and washed down with a beverage of warm beer, beaten eggs and rum. Cattern Cake has its dough rolled out much like a Swiss Roll and then cut into slices before being baked in the oven so that the cakes resemble mini sun wheels. Catterners, the name of those who celebrated this day, enjoyed eating Cattern Pie which is made with mincemeat, honey and breadcrumbs. Somerset farmers ate a ‘spoke’ of this pie which is shaped like a wheel to bring good luck and a safe winter to the farm. A feast was enjoyed on this evening along with some fireworks that included Catherine Wheels and parlour games. The spinning Catherine Wheel fireworks are very reminiscent of the burning cartwheels that were once covered in straw and rolled down hills in honour of the sun and to petition clement weather and fertility for the following year’s harvest.
A popular game to play on St Catherine’s Day was Leap Candle or Cattern Candle. A two foot high candle with a large flame was lit and to foretell your luck for the year ahead you had to jump over it. Lady Luck would not be on your side for the following twelve months if the flame snuffed out or your clothes caught on fire.
Jack be nimble Jack be quick. Jack jump over the candlestick.
On the Isle of Man, it was believed that any person who failed to leave a pin after drinking from Chibbyr Catreeney Well would suffer an unquenchable thirst the next time they drew water from it. In Ireland, young women would fast on Wednesdays, Saturdays and on St Catherine's Day to ensure they would find a good husband. Married women did the same to improve their relationships with their husband. In Abbotsbury, Dorset, women visited St Catherine's Well today in the hope of swiftly attracting a future partner. For this to work they had to place their hands and one knee in three holes that were inside the chapel.
Carters made a miniature wheel with a figure of a woman on top and hung it up on their workshop door. In the town of Chatham in Kent, rope makers held a torchlight procession led by drummers and fife players. A young girl representing Catherine accompanied them wearing a gold crown and was carried in a chair by six rope makers. Other similar processions were also led by a Cattern Queen that would go door to door collecting alms of money and food. Young spinners who worked in the Peterborough workhouse walked in a procession around the city wearing white dresses and scarlet ribbons with the tallest girl representing Catherine wearing a crown and carrying a sceptre. They stopped at wealthier homes and received food or money. In Worcestershire, young people begged for apples and beer while singing Catterning songs.
Cattern and Clemen be here, be here, Some of your apples and some of your beer, Some for Peter and some for Paul, Some for Him who made us all.
Catherine of Alexandria is the patron saint of lace makers whose main holiday was today, but there is actually a misunderstanding. The Catherine who was associated with lacemaking was in fact Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. After the annulment of their marriage, Catherine moved to Ampthill Park House in Bedfordshire and brought her lacemaking skills with her. It is said that she passed on her lacemaking knowledge to the locals and a lacemaking trade soon became established. Legend has it that when the lacemaking trade began suffering, Catherine decided to burn all of her own lace and commissioned more to replace it.
The real Saint Catherine also came from a wealthy family and was possibly a princess. She was an avid scholar; gifted and intelligent. Around the age of fourteen, after experiencing a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus, she converted to Christianity. When emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius, who reigned from 306 to his death in 312, began persecuting Christians, Catherine went to see him and denounced his cruelty. Instead of executing Catherine, the emperor called on fifty philosophers and orators to debate her but she spoke so eloquently in defence of her faith that they were unable to defeat her. Maxentius ordered her to be tortured and imprisoned. Hearing of her imprisonment and her unwavering faith in Christ, Catherine was visited by hundreds of people who subsequently converted to Christianity. Her persecutors attempted to execute her on a breaking wheel but as soon as she touched the torture device it miraculously shattered. In the end she was beheaded and a spring of milk is said to have gushed forth. Catherine is the patron saint of wet nurses, young women (as she declared herself a bride of Christ) spinners, rope makers, wheelwrights, carters, millers, philosophers and apologetics.
Traditional Cattern Pie Recipe
Shortcrust pastry Sweet mincemeat Honey Breadcrumbs
Line a flan dish with shortcrust pastry and fill it with mincemeat. Spoon melted honey over the top and sprinkle generously with breadcrumbs. Roll out ‘spokes’ from the remaining pastry to form a ‘wheel’ on the top. Bake in the oven (325 F-350 F/160 C-180 C) until golden brown. Serve with cream. Remember, you don’t eat a piece of Cattern Pie, you eat a spoke!
The last festival of this month is on 30th November and is the feast day of Saint Andrew the Apostle and patron saint of Scotland. The day is also known as Andermas or Andrys Day. Andrew is also the patron saint of fishermen, singers, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and the Greek city of Patras. Not much is known about the life of Saint Andrew apart from him being the brother of Peter the Apostle and a close friend of Jesus. He travelled the shores of the Black Sea spreading the news of the gospels and when he knew that he was going to be crucified for his faith, by order of the Roman governor Aegeas, Andrew chose an X-shaped cross as he felt unworthy to die on the same cross as Christ. He is said to have hung for three days, not by nails, but by a rope around his hands and feet. Even in agony he was still preaching until his death. Andrew’s relics were originally preserved at Patras, but Saint Regulus, also known as Saint Rule, who was an abbot there, received a vision to hide some of Andrew’s bones. Not long after, around 357, Emperor Constantine II moved many of the relics to Constantinople. Regulus experienced another vision instructing him to take the bones as far away as possible and to build a shrine for the relics wherever he landed. After a treacherous sea journey Regulus arrived on the shores of Fife in Scotland. A cathedral was eventually built in Saint Andrews (previously known as Muckross) over his shrine and throughout the Middle Ages thousands of pilgrims came from all over Scotland to see it.
A legend states that just before Oengus mac Fergusa II (king of the Picts from 820 to 834) went into battle against the Angles, he saw a giant X appear in the sky. It was the cross of Christ which later became the symbol of Saint Andrew. Oengus went on to win the day and in gratitude he is said to have built a church in the saint’s name. The town of Saint Andrews grew around the church and the Saint Andrew’s Cross can be seen today on the Scottish flag. Another legend tells how Saint Andrew also appeared to Robert the Bruce in 1314 right before the battle of Bannockburn. The battle was won by the Scots who defeated the English under Edward II.
It was traditional, on Saint Andrew’s Day, for men and boys to go to the woods and fields to catch squirrels and rabbits for their Andermas dinner which they shared with family and friends. Haggis and singed sheep’s head were also enjoyed and glasses were raised to the glory of Scotland. Tander Cakes made from bread dough, fruit, sugar, eggs and lard were a Saint Andrew’s staple. The 30th November was a lace maker’s holiday in the counties of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. It was known as Tandering Day, Tanders or Tandry. In Northamptonshire, it was held on 11th December which was Old Saint Andrew’s Day where feasts and Mummers plays were enjoyed by everyone not just lace makers. These customs died out with the decline of handmade lace at the end of the 19th century.
St Andrew’s Cake Recipe
1lb (400g) plain flour 1 tsp salt Half an oz (12.5g) fresh yeast (or half a tbsp dried yeast) 1 tsp caster sugar Half pint (250ml) warm water 1 egg 4 oz (100g) lard 4 oz (100g) currants 4 oz (100g) sugar 1 oz (25g) chopped crystallised lemon peel
Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Pour the warm water into another bowl and add the yeast and caster sugar. Blend and leave until the frothing stops. Add a beaten egg to the yeast mixture and add this to the flour mix. Slowly melt the lard in a pan and when cooled add it to the mixture. Stir until smooth. Knead the dough then cover and leave to rise. Knead in the currants, peel and sugar before transferring to a 2 lb (1 kg) loaf tin. Leave until the dough has risen to the top. Bake in the oven (350 F/180 C) until golden brown which will be about an hour.
What a wonderful way to end this very wet month of November! It is a shame to think that people have heard of these saints but have no idea of the wonderful traditions that are associated with their feast days. If you have enjoyed reading this saintly article then please share and subscribe. The recipes here come from Brian Day’s book A Chronicle of Folk Customs (1998). Will you be trying one of these recipes for yourself?
Lastly, I would like to recommend the lovely Magdalena whose Youtube channel is called Wolf of Coins. She has a very fun and interesting video (video number 99) about St Andrew’s Eve (Andrzejki) in Poland where she shares traditional Polish divination practices that are performed on that night.
Until next month,
Brightest Blessings,
Elissa
I really enjoyed this essay, Elissa; I even jotted a few notes in my digital calendar and a link to come back to this post each season -- thank you! ♡
What an absolutely wonderful article, Elissa - and thank you for the marvelous recipes! I forget if we've chatted about this yet or not - but from what I've found, it seems that Catterning, Clementing, and Souling tended to not co-exist regionally...that is to say, regions that had Clementers didn't have Catterners, etc. Have you found this as well?