One still-recognized use of the term is in horse racing, in which races limited to female horses are referred to as distaff races. Proverbs 31 cites the "wife of noble character" as one who "holds the distaff". This term developed in the English-speaking communities where a distaff spinning tool was used often to symbolize domestic life. The term distaff is also used as an adjective to describe the matrilineal branch of a family, i.e., to the person's mother and her blood relatives. The Spinner, by Wilhelm Leibl (1892), features spinning flax from a distaff. A ribbon or string is then tied at the top and loosely wrapped around the fibers to keep them in place. With flax, the wrapping is done by laying the flax fibers down, approximately parallel to each other and the distaff, then carefully rolling the fibers onto the distaff. The spinner wraps the roving or tow around the tail and through the loop to keep it out of the way, and to keep it from getting snagged.ĭressing a distaff is the act of wrapping the fiber around the distaff. A wrist distaff generally consists of a loop with a tail, at the end of which is a tassel, often with beads on each strand. Recently, handspinners have begun using wrist distaves to hold their fiber these are made of flexible material, such as braided yarn, and can swing freely from the wrist. The distaff was often richly carved and painted and was an important element of Russian folk art. The spinner sat on the dontse, with the vertical piece of the distaff to her left, and drew the fibers out with her left hand. This version is shorter, but otherwise does not differ from the spindle version.īy contrast, the traditional Russian distaff, used both with spinning wheels and with spindles, is L-shaped and consists of a horizontal board, known as the dontse ( Russian: донце), and a flat vertical piece, frequently oar-shaped, to the inner side of which the bundle of fibers was tied or pinned. On a wheel, it is placed next to the bobbin, where it is in easy reach of the spinner. This version is the older of the two, as spindle spinning predates spinning on a wheel.Ī distaff can also be mounted as an attachment to a spinning wheel. It is about 3 feet (0.9 m) long, held under the left arm, with the right hand used in drawing the fibres from it. The traditional form is a staff held under one's arm while using a spindle – see the figure illustration. In Western Europe, there were two common forms of distaves, depending on the spinning method. Russian distaffs displayed at the museum of folk handicrafts at Ferapontov Monastery
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