{"id":1473,"date":"2020-11-25T19:44:35","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T19:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maisonlamothe.com\/?p=1473"},"modified":"2020-11-25T22:15:46","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T22:15:46","slug":"outting-down-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maisonlamothe.com\/en\/outting-down-roots","title":{"rendered":"Putting down roots"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row el_class=&#8221;white fullwidthtext&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h1>Putting down roots<\/h1>\n<p>Today is Saint Catherine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p>In England Saint Catherine is probably best remembered as giving her name to the firework that immediately conjures up memories of Guy Fawkes night incidents, where the Catherine Wheel is nailed to the garden fence post and invariably fails to spin because it\u2019s been nailed too tightly; flies off to fizz dangerously somewhere else because it\u2019s not been nailed tightly enough, or ends up setting fire to the fence.<\/p>\n<p>The spiked wheel on which Catherine was condemned to die after refusing the advances of the Emperor Maxentius behaved just as unpredictably.\u00a0 Instead of the spikes tearing her flesh to shreds as it revolved, the wheel broke and the spikes ended up flying into the crowd and killing some of them.\u00a0 Alas a reprieve for poor Catherine was short-lived and she was beheaded with a sword.<\/p>\n<p>Saint Catherine quite fittingly became the patron saint of virgins and here in France the day was traditionally marked as the day for young, unmarried women to pray to her for a husband.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Saint Catherine\u2026\u2026 For pity&#8217;s sake, give us a husband for we&#8217;re burning with love\u2026..\u2019[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=&#8221;white fullwidthtext&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]If the girls\u2019 prayers went unanswered and they reached the age of 25 without having found a suitor, they were known as Catherinettes.<\/p>\n<p>In the 19th and early 20th Century girls, many of whom worked as milliners and dressmakers, would make outlandish bonnets in green (signifying hope) and yellow (signifying faith) for their unmarried friends to wear advertising their need to find husbands.<\/p>\n<p>The Fashion Houses of Paris adopted this tradition and the annual Saint Catherine\u2019s Day Parade along the Champs Elys\u00e9e was an opportunity to show off their millinery skills, have a day off work and party.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;1461&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=&#8221;white fullwidthtext&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text]Although on a much smaller scale the hat making tradition continues today.<\/p>\n<p>Creative as I sometimes can be, I have not made a hat.\u00a0 Instead I have observed another French Saint Catherine\u2019s day tradition and planted the beautiful Olive Tree that was a birthday gift given to me by some of my wonderful neighbours this Summer.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=&#8221;white fullwidthtext&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]Having dutifully tended it for the last few months, giving it lots of water I have watched the olives turn from a bright citrus green to purplish black and harvested them ready for salting.\u00a0 And I have patiently waited for Saint Catherine\u2019s Day when it is said that \u2018all trees take root.\u2019\u00a0 I\u2019ve carefully chosen my spot in consultation with the experts, Thierry who looks after the Maison Lamothe gardens and my neighbour Pascale who has farmed in Flamarens for most of her life.\u00a0 The weather was beautiful but it was back- breaking work.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;1465&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=&#8221;white fullwidthtext&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text]I just hope that I\u2019ve got everything right and that it, like me, will take root here and be happy in this place I think of as my forever home.<\/p>\n<p><em>Michelle Martinez 25th November 2020<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row el_class=&#8221;white fullwidthtext&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text] Putting down roots Today is Saint Catherine\u2019s Day. In England Saint Catherine is probably best remembered as giving her name to the firework that immediately conjures up memories of Guy Fawkes night incidents, where the Catherine Wheel is nailed to the garden fence post and invariably fails to spin because it\u2019s been [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Putting down roots | Maison Lamothe, Gers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/maisonlamothe.com\/en\/outting-down-roots\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putting down roots | Maison Lamothe, Gers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row el_class=&#8221;white fullwidthtext&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text] Putting down roots Today is Saint Catherine\u2019s Day. 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