Katternn.

1521 in Brand's Observ. Pop. Antiq. (1813) I. 322 Mem. that reste in the hands of the wyffe of John Kelyoke and John Atye, 4 merkes, the yere of ower Lorde God 1521, of Sent Kateryn mony.]

1862 Notes & Queries 17 May 387/2 In Buckinghamshire, on Cattern Day..these hard-working people hold merry-makings, and eat a sort of cakes they call ‘wigs’.

1899 A. M. Sharp Point & Pillow Lace vii. 171 Till well within the present century the name-day of the kind but most unhappy lady [sc. Catherine of Aragon], St. Catherine's Day,..was annually kept as a treat-day for young lace-makers,..and called ‘Kattern's Day’.

1730 C. Lamotte Ess. Poetry & Painting ii. 126 St. Catherine..is held in so much Veneration in the Church of Rome…her Holiday is observed, not in Popish Countries only, but even in many Places in this Nation, young Women meeting on the 25th of November, and making merry together, which they call Catherning.

1875 W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial. 25 Catterning, to go catterning is to go round begging for apples and beer for a festival on St. Catherine's Day, and singing,—‘Cattern’ and Clemen' be here, here, here, Give us your apples and give us your beer.’

1959 Times 4 Dec. 19/1 English ‘luck-visits’..take their names from the Christian usage that overlies pagan observance—as souling, katterning (St. Catherine), [etc.].

1849 H. Ellis Brand's Observ. Pop. Antiq. (rev. ed.) I. 413 Until within a very recent period, it was the custom of the dean and chapter of Worcester, yearly, on St Catharine's Day,..to distribute amongst the inhabitants of the college precincts a rich compound of wine, spices, &c., which was..called the Cattern or Catharine bowl.

1865 F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace xxx. 352 To this very day..the lace-makers still hold ‘Cattern's day’, the 25th Nov., as the holiday of their craft.

1919 T. Wright Romance of Lace Pillow xiv. 194 In some parts of Northants, Bucks and Beds, the leading festival [for lace-makers] was Catterns (St. Catharine's Day), Nov. 25th—St. Catharine being the patron saint of the spinners.

1950 Bedfordshire Mag. II. xv. 254 How many Bedfordshire people have kept Kattern? Yet St. Catherine's day was once an important occasion to pillow-lace makers.

1942 W. Rose Good Neighbours xv. 131 The mid-winter turning of the days, with its joyous celebrations, of which the visit of the ‘Katterners’ or ‘Mummers’—as they were called—was an announcement and a beginning.