I'm now on my sixth copful of singles, and although I say it myself, I feel that I am becoming quite a proficient spinner.....person who spins.....errrr......spinster. And there's the rub. I am now officially a spinster. It struck me as I lay in bed last night, doubled in pain from menstrual cramps, that there are several unavoidable truths that I must face (in Blackadder-meets-the-wise-woman style).
1) I am a woman
2) I am wise....errr.....single
3) I am a spinster
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this uninvited epiphany. On the one hand I live a very independent life. I have filled my days with learning new skills, reading new things, and generally improving my intellectual and spiritual self. On the other hand I have neglected my body and my emotional self. I currently feel like some slightly eccentric aunt who always has a spare toffee in her pocket and some arcane craft on the go.
And yet, some part of me feels a sense of belonging to this word. Spinning was a major occupation for women through the ages, and it feels right to reclaim that heritage. In fact, the reason spinster became a term meaning "unmarried woman" was because so many women signing the wedding register in the 1500s listed it as their occupation. It became a generic term and only then started to take on the slightly pejorative meaning we associate with the word today.
Unsurprisingly, these negative connotations are nothing new, and as late as the 1600s unmarried women of a certain age - spinsters - were regarded with suspicion and were liable to be arrested as prostitutes or witches. Perhaps that is why I feel an affinity for the word? I found this short essay on the subject interesting, but I get the sense that it finishes just as it was getting into its flow.
As a bizarre aside, while looking for a pic to go with this post I found this German-language Irish folk band called the Spinning Wheel. Look at "songtexte" for some lyrics.
