Spinning Discontent

Frigga spinning the Clouds. J. C. Dollman.
From Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and Sagas. By H. A. Guerber, 1909

The act of spinning thread or yarn is reference to the oppression of women. Spinning was something that was done by every woman, and often women would gather to do their work in spinning circles. While working together, women would of course tell tales, hence the term “spinning a yarn” or “spinning a tale.” As spinning became a symbol of woman's gossip, the distaff became the symbol of womanhood in illustrations and fairy tales. The act of spinning places women in the “domestic sphere”; however, the distaff can also represent a woman's rejection of societal conventionalities. An example of the latter is the Durer illustration (several pictures below), in which the woman is a witch, a woman who ignores her place in society, and therefore doesn't use her distaff properly, as a domestic tool, but instead as a weapon.

Woman spinning flax using a drop spindle and distaff.

MS Fr. 599, f. 40, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

15th c. France

Albrecht Durer Witch Riding Backwards on a Goat, 1511