Today is Ste-Catherine’s day, patron saint of old maids like me. Apparently, old Catherine converted to Christianity after having a vision and debated some pagan philosophers, converting many in the process with her great rhetoric. Traditionally, the day is associated with making taffy (tire, or “pull”), and I read that this is because poor Catherine was pulled on a wheel during her martyrdom. Another version says the wheel was destroyed as soon as she touched it, so they beheaded her instead. Yet another version has it that Catherine angered the emperor Maximus by refusing to marry him.

In the early days in the French Canadian colony, a feast was held on November 25th, where taffy was made and single women could meet eligible men, in order to be married in time for the holidays.

Yes, there was a time when it was that simple.