About Spinster Day
For women who belong to themselves.
The first annual Spinster Day will be celebrated November 17.
It Started with a Saint
Hi, I’m Keri. I came across Saint Munditia, whose jeweled skeletal remains rest in a reliquary at St. Peter’s Church in Munich. Her feast day is November 17, and she has long been associated with unmarried women. But I wanted to share her with women everywhere.
I posted about her on Instagram with my friend Lindsey beside me. We celebrated Saint Munditia and our friendship.
Women went wild.
They commented. They shared her. They tagged their friends. They told stories. They argued about the word spinster. They laughed. They asked me, “So, what are we all doing on November 17?”
Game on.
Why does she get to have all the fun?
Why Spinster Day Exists
Spinster wasn’t always an insult.
The word originally referred to women who spun yarn or thread. By the 17th century, it had become a legal term for an unmarried woman. Somewhere along the way, a perfectly ordinary word for a woman without a husband became something meant to diminish her.
We’re not having it.
Spinster Day reclaims the word and celebrates women who belong to themselves — married, single, divorced, widowed, dating, happily unattached, figuring it out, or simply refusing to organize their lives around anyone else’s expectations.
- No one has to be alone.
- No one has to reject marriage.
- No one has to explain her choices.
You just have to belong to yourself.
Own the word.Own the day.
Spinster AF.
The Word
According to Merriam-Webster, spinster evolved from the word spinner, reflecting the fact that spinning was historically women’s work. By the 17th century, it was being used in legal documents to refer to unmarried women.
The word changed. We can change it again.
Saint Munditia
Spinster Day is inspired by Saint Munditia, whose feast day is November 17 and whose relics are venerated at St. Peter’s Church in Munich, Germany.
Spinster Day is an independent celebration and has no affiliation with or endorsement from the Roman Catholic Church.