The principal implement of spinning—the twisting together of plant fibres or strands of wool—is the spindle. Yet no European people is without the distaff, the indispensable aid of the more developed form of spinning. The flax or hemp fibre, or the bundle of wool to be spun, is tied to the distaff; drawing off small amounts with the left hand, the spinner feeds the material to the spindle twirled in the right, where it is twisted into thread.

In the Szilágyság region, as late as the 1950s an old custom still survived in many places: as a sign of his serious intentions, a young man courting a girl would make and give his chosen one an ornamented distaff at Christmas, a mangle board and a washing bat at Easter, and, by Pentecost, when hoeing began, a hoe cleaner. If the courtship lasted longer, these might be followed by a weaving temple for keeping the cloth stretched on the loom, a shuttle, and perhaps other small implements used in spinning, weaving, or everyday household work. If the girl accepted them, she would reciprocate with a handkerchief embroidered by herself, a tasselled pouch, an embroidered young man’s apron, or a posy.

There was a customary order to the young man’s gifts and to the girl’s return gifts, and the objects themselves were made according to a canon prescribed—or at least sanctioned—by tradition. Since the young man’s gifts and the girl’s gifts in return were publicly recognised signs of their mutual commitment, it was important that they should be beautiful: everyone would look at them. Thus, if the young man truly loved the girl, he would “flower” the gifts he made for her, covering them with especially rich ornament.

At Désháza, the young man prepared the distaff “for Christmas”, although in practice he presented it to the girl on the Saturday marking “Old Christmas” (6 January), sometimes together with a spindle holder, locally called leányka (“little girl”). As a sign that she approved of her son’s affection, the young man’s mother adorned the distaff with ribbons: at the top she tied a red ribbon into a bow and decorated it along its length with buttons, while at the end she attached a small bone peg—a distaff needle (guzsalytű)—carved by the young man from the shinbone of cattle. She then tied to it one tépés of hemp—six fő, that is, six small bundles of hemp—and inserted two spindles into it.

Thus prepared, the distaff was carried to the girl by the young man in the evening, so that others would not see him. As a sign of her consent, the girl spun the hemp attached to the distaff and, again on an evening, took the thread to the young man’s mother so that she might “weave a shirt from it for her son”. This visit was at the same time the first occasion on which a new relationship was established between the girl and the young man’s mother—and, through her, his family. From then on the young man was allowed to visit the girl’s home on Saturday evenings; he could escort her home late at night from the spinning bee, which she attended carrying the distaff he had given her, and could remain with her for a while at the gate, “talking”.

The base of the distaff was traditionally made of sycamore maple, a wood well suited to incised carving and one on which the colouring of the carved patterns showed to particular advantage. The bases of older distaffs were deltoid in outline, resembling the old symmetrical boot soles made “to fit either foot”. On the upper half of the board on which the spinner sat, the ornament consisted of fir-branch-like notches and deeply cut plum-stone motifs.

There can be little doubt that the notched decoration was originally practical in purpose, preventing the base from slipping beneath the sitter. The plum-stone motif, on the other hand, may originally have carried a sexual meaning, since the richly ornamented distaff itself served as a symbolic expression of the intention of union as a couple. Another motif is the solar symbol—the circle or rosette—with an apotropaic function and the power to ensure fertility. That this was not merely a motif arising from technical necessity is shown by the fact that, on the oldest distaff bases, the rosettes were carved without even the use of a compass.

Dr Károly Kós, Transylvanian Distaffs (Erdélyi guzsalyok, 1979)