On St Catherine's Day, single women eat cake. What's this about? They are praying for husbands?

Marilyn B.B1Kwiziq community member

On St Catherine's Day, single women eat cake. What's this about? They are praying for husbands?

This question relates to:French lesson "Which prepositions to use with name days - like Saint Valentine's Day - in French"

Asked 2 years ago

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CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Marilyn,

Good question!

La Sainte Catherine is a festival for 'unmarried women'.

Probably not allowed to say this now and a bit irrelevant when people nowadays don't get married to form a family but in my youth, 'coiffer Sainte Catherine' meant you were on the shelf!

I know about hats being worn by any unmarried woman aged at least 25 but don't know anything about eating cake.

Please take a look at this wiki page which is quite informative.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%AAte_de_la_Sainte-Catherine

Hope I haven't offended anyone, if so it wasn't my intention.

Like22 years ago

Marilyn B. asked:

On St Catherine's Day, single women eat cake. What's this about? They are praying for husbands?

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