Oct. 25.] ST. CRISPIN’S DAY.
Oct. 25.]
ST. CRISPIN’S DAY.
In many places St. Crispin’s Day is a great holiday among the shoemakers, and the origin of it is thus explained:—Two brothers, Crispin and Crispinian, natives of Rome, having become converts to Christianity, travelled to Soissons in France about the year 303, in order to propagate the Christian faith. Being desirous, however, of rendering themselves independent they gained a subsistence by making shoes, with which it is said they furnished the poor at an extremely small price, an angel, according to the legend, supplying them with leather. They suffered martyrdom in the persecution under Maximian.
In Time’s Telescope for 1816 it is observed that the shoemakers of the present day are not far behind their predecessors in the manner of keeping St. Crispin. From the highest to the lowest it is a day of feasting and jollity. It is also observed as a festival with the corporate body of cordwainers or shoemakers of London, but without any sort of procession on the occasion.