In Ireland women and girls once fasted every Wednesday and Saturday of the year, and some also on St Catherine’s Day. They kept the fast even if the day fell on their birthday or they were ill. The reason given was that girls would get good husbands by it, and wives better ones, whether by the death, desertion or reform of the husbands they had.
St Catherine’s fast
25 November · Ireland
Lore and belief
The reason given for it was that the girls might get good husbands, and the women better ones
From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, col. 1508. Read the original
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