Roc Day Celebration set for Jan. 10
The Weavers of Char-Lee Roc Day Celebration will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 10, at the Fort Myers Regional Library.
The celebration is free and open to the public.
For the past several years weavers have celebrated Roc Day at the Cape Coral Library with demonstrations of weaving, spinning and kids activities. This year, the goup will celebrate at the new downtown library in Fort Myers at 2450 First St.
Roc Day is the traditional world wide celebration of Weavers & Spinners bringing Looms & Wheels out of storage after the holidays to resume their craft on Jan. 7, St Distaff day.
The “Roc” is the distaff on a spinning wheel which holds the wool or flax for spinning. Spinning on the Roc is mentioned in the Bible and early literature. Many rhymes refer to this Roc, Rok, Rock or Rucken. Before the modern day spinning wheel, the Roc was a separate stool with a staff to hold the wool while several spinners spun from it. “Sleeping Beauty” would have pricked her finger on the Roc as nothing else on the spinning wheel is sharp.
Roc Day is celebrated all over the world. Here in Lee County the day will be honored with hands-on weaving and spinning demonstrations. Everyone is invited to bring a loom, spinning wheel or fiber art project to work on for this grass roots get-together. Handwoven and handspun work will be on display, children will be weaving bookmarks, visitors are welcome to sit down at a loom and weave, try out a spinning wheel or a drop spindle and enjoy the celebration of weaving and spinning.
This 10th annual local celebration of Roc Day is part of the Weavers of Char-Lee’s efforts to help inform and educate the public in weaving and spinning. Weavers celebrate the history, traditions, tools of their craft, the arts and literature. Weavers have been awarded a grant from the Southwest Florida Community Foundation to start a weaving program at Quality Life Center. Weavers have donated a historic factory loom to create rag rugs and are instructing students in the after school learning center. Teens from the program will participate in this year’s celebration by demonstrating inkle weaving on their new individual looms purchased with grant money.
For more information contact the Weavers of Char-Lee, Rose Young, at 239 540 5836 or bryoung2@comcast.net