La Sainte Catherine
(art above by Theophilia)
Date: November 25
Liturgical colour: Red
Saint Catherine of Alexandria (287-305), according to her legend, lived in Alexandria, Egypt and was a part of the nobility. As a young person, she was already a gifted and astute orator. As she voiced out the abuse Christians were facing, the emperor Maxentius sought to stamp her out by sending philosophers her way to argue against her. She put them all in the orator dust. While imprisoned, she was fed by a dove that would visit her. She was martyred on the breaking wheel and scourge. While her legend remains most likely fictional, and most likely an amalgamation of the life of Hypatia, the martyred Pagan scholar of Alexandria, her presence in Christian belief still holds a candle! She's one of the saints that advised Joan of Arc. She's also a great helper of academic pursuits! If you need help with an admission, scholarship, research funding, or just getting through your graduate studies with your sanity intact, she would love to hear from you with a white candle on Saturdays. (1)
She's matron saint of migraines, weaving looms and spinning wheels, philosophers, lawyers, and women in academia, or those that love to study. She's matron saint of spinners, lace makers, rope makers, sewing machine operators, drivers, wheelwrights. She also protects mariners from shipwreck.
Her feast day of November 25th held many joyful celebrations in French Canadian and some Acadian communities. Celebrations for this saint of course were popular in France, where female saint statues were draped or veiled on this day, as were single unmarried women aged 25. This tradition carried over into Quebec, where young unmarried women would be encouraged for fun to don a bonnet at midnight of November 25th. This was called "coiffer sainte Catherine".
(Image: Maison Saint-Gabriel Tire Sainte-Catherine)
La tire Sainte-Catherine: a candy tradition
Tire Sainte-Catherine is a traditional pulled molasses taffy made with the sugars we had available to us through trade. Made by Marguerite Bourgeoys in 17th century New France, she had used this home-made candy to entice young French and Indigenous children to her school in Ville-Marie in present-day Montreal. Hate colonialism, love the candy.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, pulling this taffy was an excellent activity to bring the whole family together, and perhaps your crush, to a full day of fun and festivities. Often after the taffy was all pulled, there would be kitchen parties, accompanied by fiddles and accordions.
You wanted a way to get close to your crush? Simply pull a large taffy strand with them! When your taffy would inevitably fold on itself, you'd be close enough to steal a kiss!
There was of course legends associated with this treat. One tells of a young girl named Nanette, who didn't want to be "coiffer sainte Catherine". She was however 25.. she said, "I'd rather be taken alive by the Devil than to be coiffed!" And so she danced the entire evening with a beautiful tall man that the village has never met. So much so, she looked bewitched. On the stroke of midnight, her grandmother pulled the bonnet on her head. At that instant, someone knocked over an oil lamp and the entire home burst into flames. Nanette was never seen again, rumoured to have been taken by the Devil. (2)
The Traditional Tire Sainte-Catherine Recipe (3)
Ingredients
1 cup de white sugar
1 cup de brown sugar
1 cup de molasses
½ cup de corn syrup
½ cup of water
1 tbs of vinegar
1 tbs. of butter
1 tsp. of baking soda
Preparation
Using a big, heavy-bottom pot, cream the white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup, water, vinegar and butter. Cook and bring to a boil until it reaches a candy thermometer temperature of 260 °F for hard taffy, 250°F for soft taffy. Remove from heat source.
Add baking soda and mix well. The mixture will swell, so make sure your pot is big enough to accommodate. Pour mixture onto a well-buttered greased cookie sheet, let it cool enough to touch.
Butter your hands well and tear off a piece of the taffy. It can be a big or as tiny as you want. Begin pulling taffy into a line, fold into halves, and then twist! Pull it out again, and continue this dance until the taffy turns golden.
Once golden, you can cut it into chunks and wrap it in wax paper. Enjoy!
The taffy was often used as a sweet treat and gift from girls to their intended guy they were sweet on. I told my fiancée it's my cultural day to get a sweet treat!
Ramtchin and Rabostans on the Magdalen Islands
In the Magdalen Islands among the Acadians, this treat was known as "ramtchin" In fact, the expression "faire du ramtchin" means to throw a big kitchen party.
Everyone would gather at someone's house, bringing their own molasses. Once the taffy is wrapped and done, they are called "torquette" or a "bille de ramtchin". There was of course, a song that was sung to accompany the laborious and long task of weaving the taffy! These work songs (which exist for pretty much every manual task done in the home) was called a "Rabostan". Rabostan was also used in every-day language to mean the last of a left-over or drink, and even the last-born child. (4)
Here's an example of a rabostan! This was collected from a Mrs. Chevrier du Bassin, from Havre-aux-Maisons, featured in the book cited (4). It also appears to a call and response song, as the phrasing repeats itself at every fourth line.
Folk sayings
"À la Sainte-Catherine, tout arbre prend racine."
"Donne-moi l'homme qui me conviendra sainte-Catherine."
The snow falling on this day would be called "La bordée de Sainte-Catherine"
Modern uses for Tire Sainte-Catherine
Who's to say you can't use this treat in a love working? Or even break off some pieces to foretell how many years you have until you find your person? Just sayin'.
"À la Sainte-Catherine, tout arbre prend racine." This could mean that on this day, all trees take root. Seems like a good day to try doing a grounding spell.
I remember making the taffy with my grandmother when I was a kid. It's definitely something I want to try doing again, this time singing the rabostan as I work the taffy.
Sources
Judika Illes. The Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints & Sages. Catherine of Alexandria. p. 209-210.
Jeanne Pomerleau. Saints et fêtes du jour au Canada français. "Sainte Catherine d'Alexandrie" Les éditions GID. p.870-871.
3. La cuisine raisonnée. Édition 100e anniversaire, éditions Fides 2018. The recipe book is a re-print of a recipe collection written by the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, a religious community founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys in the 17th century.
4. Jean-Claude de l'Orme & Avila Leblanc. Histoire populaire des Iles de la Madeleine. L'aurore/Univers. 1980.
