Farming and Husbandry
The festival of the Robigalia is celebrated to appease the God Robigus (or perhaps the Goddess Robigo; the gender of this deity, who originated as one of the numinae, is uncertain), who is the deity of wheat-rust, mildew, and blight.
It is an ancient festival of the agricultural calendar, and is celebrated by the Flamen Quirinalis. Both a red dog and sheep are sacrificed to Robigus, along with wine and incense; prayers are then spoken to protect the crops. There is some connection with the ascension of the star Sirius, but it is unclear.
Games (ludi) in the form of “major and minor” races were held. The Robigalia was one of several agricultural festivals in April to celebrate and vitalize the growing season, but the darker sacrificial elements of these occasions are also fraught with anxiety about crop failure and the dependence on divine favor to avert it.
Verminus, a God who protects cattle against worm disease, might also be honored on this day.
The Robigalia has been connected to the Christian feast of Rogation, which was concerned with purifying and blessing the parish and fields and which took the place of the Robigalia on April 25 of the Christian calendar.
Sources:
Pongal is the first harvest festival of the year and the celebrations go on for four days. This is a sacred festival for Tamilians all over the world and the best celebrations take place in the state of Tamil Nadu. It falls on January 14 this year and the date pretty much remains constant over the years, sometimes it falls on January 15 as well. Pongal is also called Thai Pongal as the festival marks the beginning of the Tamil month Thai. This is considered to be an auspicious one and people celebrate it with much enthusiasm.
Thai month is believed to bring good luck by vanishing one’s problems away and therefore people look forward to celebrating Pongal. The harvest festival is celebrated over four days with each day having a different ritual. Here is how Pongal is celebrated in Tamil Nadu.
Pongal is a harvest festival and since rice is one of the main crops grown here, it is given due importance during the rituals. Even turmeric and sugarcane are grown in Tamil Nadu. The harvest festival is in the month of Thai which is considered auspicious for weddings as well.
Pongal is all about letting go of the past and welcoming new things in life. Pongal is also known as Thai or Tai Pongal. People celebrate it to thank Lord Sun for a good harvest season. The four-day festivities are:
- Bhogi Pongal:
The first day of the four-day festivity is Bhogi Pongal. It marks the last day of Marghazi, Tamil month. People celebrate it together by lighting bonfires and burning discarded items.
The first day of Pongal is celebrated by paying respect to the rain gods who are responsible in ensuring a good crop year. People offer their prayers by thanking Indra for this blessings and ask for a good year again. People also light up a bonfire and throw the items they want to discard in it. In the evening, women sing and dance around the bonfire which helps keep warm as well as the night gets chilly.
- Surya Pongal:
The second day is Surya Pongal. It is dedicated to Lord Sun or Surya Dev. People thank him for providing a good harvest and seeking blessing for happiness and prosperity. On this day, the houses are decorated with banana and mango leaves.
The second day of the harvest festival has more elaborate rituals where the women of the house decorate the area outside the house using white powder in the morning. Then, rice is boiled in milk in an earthen pot outside the house. Sugarcane sticks are used for decoration along with banana leaves and turmeric plant. This rice is offered to the sun god who again is responsible for a good harvest.
The word Pongal translates to boil over and boiling rice signifies its name. On this day, people also wear new, ethnic wear for the celebrations.
- Mattu Pongal:
The third day marks Mattu Pongal. Mattu means cow, cattle or bullock. This celebrates cattle as they provide dairy products, fertilizers and agriculture support. This day of Pongal is reserved for offering prayers to cows who are considered a sacred animal for Hindus.
The cows horns are painted and adorned with bells and flowers around their neck. Women then perform aarti to get rid of any evil eye and seek the animal’s blessings. Cows are then paraded in the village and the tiny bells reverberate their arrival. There is a cheer in the atmosphere and villagers also organize cattle races on this day.
- Kanum Pongal:
The last day is Kanum Pongal. This day strengthens the bond between people. A lot of people come together and celebrate it.
The last day of Thai Pongal celebrations end with a pooja right outside the home. Women wake up in the morning and before bathing, they place a washed turmeric leaf on the ground. Different kinds of rice are placed on it along with sugarcane sticks, betel nuts and more. The pooja performed is essentially for their brothers, to ensure they prosper in life. This marks the end of the harvest festival celebration in Tamil Nadu.
Pongal Stories
There are two major stories that revolve around the celebration of Pongal.
Once, Lord Shiva had asked Basava, his bull, to travel around the world to inform people to eat once a month, have a bath and oil massage every day. Basava communicated exactly the opposite of what he was told. He told people to bathe once a month and eat everyday. This angered Lord Shiva and he ordered Basava to go into exile. He was made to assist people while ploughing. This is why cattle are linked with the harvest.
There is another story to it. According to a few people, Lord Krishna told the people of Gokul to stop worshipping Lord Indra as he was arrogant and was filled with pride. This angered Lord Indra. He caused thunderstorms and flooding. To protect people, Lord Krishna lifted Mount Govardhan on his little finger to provide shelter to people. Lord Indra realized his mistakes and asked for forgiveness from Lord Krishna.
Pongal Quotes and Invocations:
These are actually meant for greeting cards, but I thought they would make something nice to say over a meal, or during a meditation during these four days.
- As you offer thanks to the hero of your farmland – the Cattle, May the festival of Pongal which heralds the beginning of harvest season Bring you happiness, joy, prosperity and wealth. Pongalo Pongal!
We thank sun for burning himself to save us.
We thank plants sacrificing their life for us.
And we thank all the creatures helping us to live in this world for some time.
- The sun shines bright
To guide and lead us the way
Towards bountiful harvest season
May we be blessed with prosperity and joy
May the sweetness of overflowing milk and sugarcane
Fill our home with harmony and happiness
- May the love and affection
Overflow from your heart
like Pongal milk from the pot
Pongalo Pongal
As you shout Pongalo Pongal
To welcome the prosperity and wealth
along with the overflowing Milk
I wish you everlasting happiness and joy
Ven Pongal Recipe
Pongal is a delicious South Indian porridge made with rice and yellow moong lentils. It can be made sweet or savory. Here I share the savory version of pongal recipe known as Ven Pongal or Khara Pongal laced with the wonderful flavors of cumin, asafetida, curry leaves, ginger and black pepper. Not to forget the lovely aroma of ghee, in it.
Main Ingredients:
- ½ cup rice – any medium to short grained or regular rice, 100 grams
- ¼ cup moong dal or 60 grams moong dal
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds – lightly crushed
- ⅛ teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
- 1 inch ginger – chopped or 1 teaspoon heaped chopped ginger
- 3 to 3.25 cups water or add as required
- salt as required
For Tempering:
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns whole or crushed, you can also add ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 sprig curry leaves or 10 to 12 small to medium curry leaves
- 10 to 12 cashews – whole or halved
- 2 to 3 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter)
Instructions:
Pick moong lentils first to get rid of stones if any. Then heat a small pan or a small kadai and add the moong lentils. On a low flame stirring often roast the moong lentils till they become aromatic. The moong lentils only need to be roasted till they become aromatic. No need to brown them.
Now take them in another bowl or you can use the same pan for rinsing. Add rice in the bowl containing the roasted moong dal. Rinse both rice and roasted moong dal a couple of times with water. Drain very well and then add them in a pressure cooker.
Now add the following ingredients:
- Cumin seeds
- Asafetida (hing)
- Chopped ginger
- Salt as per taste.
Pour in 3 to 3.25 cups water. The amount of water to be added depends on the consistency you want and also on the quality of moong dal. Pressure cook on a medium to high flame for 7 to 8 whistles or 11 to 12 minutes.
Let the pressure settle down on its own and then you remove the lid to check the doneness and consistency. If the pongal has a consistency like that of pulao, then add ½ to 1 cup hot water and mix very well.
Both the rice and the moong dal should be cooked very well. If you want you can even slightly mash the cooked rice and moong lentils. If cooked well, then cover with the lid and keep aside.
Tempering:
In another small pan, heat the ghee. Add the cumin seeds. Let them splutter. Then add the cashews. Fry until the cashews become light golden. Once they begin to get light golden, then add black peppercorns and 10 to 12 curry leaves.
Stir very well and fry until the curry leaves become crisp. The black pepper should also be fried well.
Putting It All Together:
Now pour this entire tempering on the pongal. Mix very well. Cover with the lid (with the vent weight/whistle on the lid) and keep ven pongal aside for 5 to 6 minutes. This allows the tempering flavors to infuse with the pongal and the aroma to stay in. Then remove the lid and serve hot with coconut chutney or sambar.
Sources:
On the first of November, it was an ancient Celtic practice to indulge in a sort of feast, which was called la mas ubhal, the day of the apple fruit, because on that occasion, roasted apples were bruised and mixed in ale, milk, or by those who could afford it, in wine. This is the origin of lamb’s wool.
About Lambs Wool:
The basic recipe for lambswool is as follows: Apples are roasted in a pan on the fire, or on a string over the fire, until they sizzle. They are then dropped, still hot, into the warmed, spiced, sweetened ale.
In Gerard’s Herbal (1633) it is described as a drink of warmed, spiced ale or cider, in which bob roasted apples: ‘sometimes, eggs or cream, or both, are whisked in, and sometimes it is served poured over small fruit cakes.’
It derives its name from the day which is dedicated to the Angel presiding over fruits and seeds, which was originally called “La Maso bal” which was corrupted to Lamb’s Wool. According to Nell Heaton writing in the late 1940’s. Alternatively, the name could simply be a reference to the fluffy appearance of the pulp of the roast apples, bobbing about in the warm brew.
From: The Scotish Gaël and Celebration
Pomona’s Day of Honoring is often cited as November 1, making it a close match to the Celtic holiday Samhain. But sometimes it’s cited as August 13. Taken together, those days bracket the apple season. The earliest dessert apples begin to ripen in late summer, while the last storage apples finish in late autumn.
Even before the Romans added Pomona to the Samhain festivities, the Celts traditionally roasted apples and nuts in the bonfires. Pomona’s associations strengthened the role and symbolism of this fruit in connection with the holiday. This may be the origin of the modern custom of “bobbing for apples.”
To do on Pomona’s Day:
- Plant an apple tree.
Trees set out during the autumn planting season have a chance for extra root growth before they leaf out in the spring. Invoking Pomona’s blessing for her favorite type of tree will help your apple sapling grow big and strong.
This is especially helpful for grafted trees, which are a little more fragile than self-rooted trees and can use a boost from the goddess of grafting.
- Do some divination.
Do divination or other magic with fruits and nuts. The seeds, peels, and flesh of fruiting plants are useful in many types of divination and spellcraft. At this time of year, the veil between worlds is thin, making divination easier and more effective.
Divination with apples includes such things as cutting the peel from an apple all in one strip and tossing it to reveal the initials of one’s future spouce, placing apple seeds on the coals to see if they lie quietly (fortelling a happy relationship) or fly apart (foretelling heartbreak), and cutting an apple in front of a mirror to scry one’s beloved.
- Practice some Apple Magick.
Another set of practices draws on the apple’s qualities as a magickal fruit with power over the otherworld. These rituals deal with death and banishing. An apple may be cut in half and buried to cure a disease, settle a quarrel, or break a bad habit. Apples are also sometimes thrown to drive away evil spirits, or left out to feed the spirits of the dead so they do not trouble the living.
Ritual for Pomona’s Day
Here is a nice little ceremony to honor Pomona on her day:
- Colors: Red, yellow, green
- Earth
- Altar: Upon cloth of any or all of these colors, lay baskets of apples (preferably the old Roman variety “Lady”)and other tree fruit, a jug of cider, and a pruning knife.
- Offerings: Water fruit trees.
- Daily Meal: Vegetarian, with any food made with apples.
Invocation to Pomona
Lady of the Apple Tree
Whose red-cheeked visage greets the dawn,
Lady of the Pear Tree
Whose sweetness salves the questing tongue,
Lady of the Peach Tree
Whose blush transforms the morning sky,
Lady of the Plum Tree
Whose scent entices, smooth and smiling,
Lady of the Cherry Tree
Whose scarlet lips are drenched in raindrops.
Lady of the blossoming branch
Who entices bees to dance with you,
Lady of the secret orchard
Where Vertumnus gained his entry,
Where he came in secret, clothed in
Vestments of the ancient Crone,
God of growth, god of seasons,
God of turning, he took you there
As you offered up your nectar
And all the trees above you burst their buds.
Lady of the ancient ones, the Trees
Who give forth their children one by one
That we may know not just mere survival
But sweetness as well, help us to remember
The beauty and abundance of your gifts.
Chant:
Pomona Pomona
Pomum Pirum Prunus
Pax Pactum Promissio
Sources:
In many cultures around the world, staple crops such as corn and rice are believed to embody a spiritual essence.
In European cultures, a corn doll was often used to represent the spirit of the harvested crops. However, Europe didn’t have a monopoly on this at all. In South American countries, some tribes took the largest portion of the crops — typically maize — and dressed it in clothing as an effigy.
In Peru, people honored different spirits of the crops. The Maize Mother was the zara mama, the spirit of quinoa was known as quinoa mama, and everything from the cocoa tree to the lowly potato had a life essence.
In North America, the native tribes grew corn, or maize, as a staple part of their diet. Some groups have stories of rebirth and regeneration, and a few have folktales that parallel the story of Demeter and Persephone. In the southwestern part of the United States, Native Americans still perform a ceremonial dance that honors the harvesting of the maize every fall.
It’s not uncommon to find spiritual connections to agriculture. The Malay people of Indonesia believe that rice plants — again, a staple crop — possess a soul or life force just as humans do. Harvesting is even done in a way that is seen as “painless” to the rice plants, so that it will not suffer. In some parts of the Malay Peninsula, there is a big ceremony at the beginning of each harvest, in which a complex ritual is performed that identifies the mother of the rice soul in the selected sheaf.
Folklorist Sir James Frazer makes mention in The Golden Bough of the global phenomenon of the honoring of the spirit of the grain. He says that the mere fact that underdeveloped, primitive cultures honor a “corn mother” archetype indicates that this has been going on for thousands of years. In other words, because these cultures are “unspoiled” by modern society, their worship of such an embodiment of the grain is probably very close to the original ritual and ceremony.
Article by: Patti Wigington
August, originally called Sextilis by the Romans, was later named Augustus in honor of Augustus Caesar. Gathered harvests were celebrated in many lands during this month.
August 1st was a Celtic feast called Lunasa or Lughnassadh, meaning the celebration of harvest and new grain for bread. In Old English this became Lammas, or “Loaf Mass.” The Romans also had a harvest festival during this month, that of the Consualia when sacrifices to Consus were made. Consus was the god of the underground storehouse where the grain was kept.
They also celebrated the Opseconsiva, a harvest festival for the goddess Ops. Wine and freshly baked bread were placed on her altars. Near the end of the month they had a thanksgiving feast called the Charisteria.
At three times during August, the Romans honored the god Vulcan: on August 17 at the Portunalia; on August 27 at the Volturnalia; and again on August 23 at the Volcanalia. this last festival was held outside the city boundaries and was to ward off accidental fires, a real threat in such closely-packed and fire-prone towns. Vulcan was not the only deity honored during these festivals. The goddesses Juturna (deity of fountains) and Stata Mater (who put out fires) were invoked as a counterbalance to Vulcan’s fires – volcanoes or otherwise.
The very early Greeks had a holy day for Hecate the Dark Mother on August 13, and ten days later one for Nemesis, the goddess who balanced the scales of justice with rightful revenge and punishment. In Rome, women who had prayers answered by Diana and Hecate marched by torchlight to the temples of these goddesses. There they held a special ceremony for women only and gave thanks.
The Egyptian Blessing of the Boats is quite similar in nature to the Roman festival of the Ludi Piscatari in June during the Mead Moon. Each boat was considered to have its own personality and a need for protection and blessing. The same can apply today to cars, boats, bikes, motorcycles, and in fact to any form of transportation upon which one relies.
In India today, the Hindu people still honor the elephant-headed god Ganesha, the deity who removes obstacles and brings good luck. Flowers and dishes of rice were set before his statues. However, it is considered unlucky to look at the Moon during this festival.
Yapaquix (Sowing Month), also known as Chacra Ayapui or Capac Siquis, was celebrated by the Incas. The people of Tibet had only one major holiday this month, the Sikhim festival of the birth of Padmasambhava.
From: Moon Magick
In the United States, many farmers superstitiously consider July 25 to be the best day of the year to sow turnip seeds. Interestingly, this is also the feast day of St. Christopher.
Source: Encyclopedia of Superstitions
Thargelia (Greek Θαργήλια) was one of the chief Athenian festivals in honour of the Delian Apollo and Artemis, held on their birthdays, the 6th and 7th of the month Thargelion (about May 24 and May 25).
Essentially an agricultural festival, the Thargelia included a purifying and expiatory ceremony. While the people offered the first-fruits of the earth to the god in token of thankfulness, it was at the same time necessary to propitiate him, lest he might ruin the harvest by excessive heat, possibly accompanied by pestilence. The purificatory preceded the thanksgiving service.
The most important ritual was the following. Two men, the ugliest that could be found (the Pharmakoi) were chosen to die, one for the men, the other (according to some, a woman) for the women. Acting as scapegoats for community guilt, they were draped in figs and led through the city. before being cast out.
Hipponax of Kolophon claims that on the day of the sacrifice they were led round with strings of figs on their necks, and whipped on the genitals with rods of figwood and squills. When they reached the place of sacrifice on the shore, they were stoned to death, their bodies burnt, and the ashes thrown into the sea (or over the land, to act as a fertilizing influence). However, it is unclear how accurate Hipponax’s sixth-century, poetical account of the ceremony is, and there is much scholarly debate as to its reliability.
On the first day of the festival, a sheep was sacrificed to Demeter Chloe on the Acropolis, and perhaps a swine to the Fates, but it is generally agreed that an actual human sacrifice took place on this occasion, replaced in later times by a milder form of expiation. Thus at Leucas a criminal was annually thrown from a rock into the sea as a scapegoat: but his fall was checked by live birds and feathers attached to his person, and men watched below in small boats, who caught him and escorted him beyond the boundary of the city. Similarly, at Massilia, on the occasion of some heavy calamity (plague or famine), one of the poorest inhabitants volunteered as a scapegoat. For a year he was fed up at the public expense, then clothed in sacred garments, led through the city amidst execrations, and cast out beyond the boundaries.
After having rid the city of any ill influences on the first day of the festival, the second day begins with a joyous attitude. It follows the basic structure of any other Hellenic festival. First, there was a procession, which included children who carried the eiresione, an olive branch decorated with woolen fillets, bread, fruits, small flasks of honey, and some with oil. The children would sing the following while carrying this:
“The Eiresione brings figs and fat bread,
honey in pots, and oil to rub down,
a cup of strong wine so you go drunk to bed.”
As they moved through the city, they would collect offerings along the way. Once arriving at the temple, the offering of the first fruits of the grain harvest would begin. From the surviving texts we learn that the offering was of two types: a boiled stew of grains and seasonal vegetables, or the loaf of grain bread called the thargelos. It is from the name of the loaf that the festival takes its name. This loaf was also called eueteria, meaning “good year.”
There would also be libations, hymns, much feasting and other activities during the celebration. Singing competitions were especially popular, in which 50 men from the 10 tribes of Athens participated. All of these were done in honor of Apollo, god of purification.
For a more modern approach, we have this idea:
- Themes: Cleansing; Offering; Forgiveness; Magic
- Symbols: Ritual Tools
- Presiding Goddess: As the Greek goddess who created all sacred rituals and ceremonies, Hosia oversees this rite and directs your magical energy toward successful manifestation.
To do Today:
Follow Greek tradition and leave Hosia an offering of fruit, bread, or wheat to encourage her assistance. Next consider creating a personal ritual for cleansing or forgiveness. Hosia will guide your hand in choosing words and actions suited to the working. Alternatively, take out your ritual tools and ask for hosia’s blessing on them saying:
Hosia, these are the tools of my hand, heart, and spirit.
They symbolize the elements and the corners of creation.
Today I ask that you empower them for working magic,
and regulate their use for the greatest good.
May they always direct my energy in perfect love and trust.
So be it.
In ancient Greece, a scapegoat (often a criminal) was often identified to bear the sins for an entire community, then either sacrificed or banished into the wilderness. A way to adapt this practice is by designing an image of something you need to banish, then “driving it away” by putting it in the car and leaving it in a remote spot. As you turn away, ask the goddess Hosia to witness the rite and to empower your efforts for positive change.
Sources: Wikipedia and Pagan Pages and 365 Goddess
Also called The Parilia, this festival is dedicated to the Another festival to Pales, goddess of herds. In ancient Roman religion, Pales was a deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock. Regarded as male by some sources and female by others, Pales can be either singular or plural in Latin, and refers at least once to a pair of deities.
During these festivals, ritualistic cleansing of sheep/cattle pens and animals would take place. There are two dates for this festival, one is April 21, and the other on July 7. The festival in April was for smaller livestock, while the one in July was for larger animals.
The festival, basically a purification rite for herdsmen, beasts, and stalls, was at first celebrated by the early kings of Rome, later by the pontifex maximus, or chief priest.
The Vestal Virgins opened the festival by distributing straw and the ashes and blood of sacrificial animals. Ritual cleaning, anointment, and adornment of herds and stalls followed, together with offerings of simple foods.
Shepherds swept out the pens and smudged the animals and pens with burning sulfur. In the evening, the animals were sprinkled with water, and their pens were decorated with garlands. Fires were started, and in were thrown olives, horse blood, beanstalks without pods, and the ashes from the Fordicalia fires. Men and beasts jumped over the fire three times to purify themselves further, and to bring them protection from anything that might harm them (wolves, sickness, starvation, etc.). After the animals were put back into their pens the shepherds would offer non-blood sacrifices of grain, cake millet, and warm milk to Pales.
Another description of this Festival from Nova Roma is as follows:
The Parilia is both an ancient agricultural festival sacred to Pales and the birthday of Eternal Roma Herself. The sheep-fold is decorated with greenery and a wreath placed on its entrance. At first light the fold is scrubbed and swept, and the sheep themselves are cleansed with sulfur smoke. A fire is made of olive and pine wood, into which laurel branches are thrown; their crackling is a good omen. Offerings are made of cakes of millet, other food, and pails of milk.
A prayer is then said four times to Pales (while facing east), seeking protection and prosperity for the shepherd and his flocks, forgiveness for unintentional transgressions against Pales, and the warding off of wolves and disease. The shepherd then washes his hands with dew. Milk and wine is heated and drunk, and then he leaps through a bonfire (and possibly his flocks as well).
Day of Pales Ritual
From the Pagan Book of Hours, we have a modern day ritual for the Day of Pales.
- Color: Sand-colored
- Element: Earth
- Altar: Upon a sand-colored cloth set a man’s right shoe and a woman’s left shoe, side by side, with a shepherd’s crook between them, and small figures of goats and sheep.
- Offerings: Work in the barn with livestock. Do some chore or work-task that you were taught was inappropriate for your gender.
- Daily Meal: Goat. Lamb or mutton. Coarse bread. Soup or stew. Greens.
Invocation to Pales
Hail, Keeper of Flocks and Herds,
Ass-headed god/dess, you who are
Both male and female,
Both god and peasant,
Patron of those who must dirty their hands,
Beloved of the working man and woman,
You who do not play favorites,
Trickster who loves a good joke,
Lord of the dry land between the rivers
Where your flocks graze on scrub
And the people’s blood flows like water
In their everlasting feud,
Come to us and show us life
Through your crooked ass eyes!
Hail, Keeper of Flocks and Herds,
Lady/Lord of the crook and sandals,
You show us that roles
Are meant to be transgressed,
That work can be radical,
That being bound to the labor of the Earth
Does not have to make one heavy.
We need your humor, divine ass!
We need your braying laughter to echo
Over the desert and through our hearts,
And to watch you tip the balance of power
Like a child tips an apple cart.
Hail, Keeper of Flocks and Herds!
(After the invocation, go to the barn, or to a local farm. Hoofed livestock should be given treats on this day, in honor of Pales.)
In Belgium, the Monday after Epiphany is called “lost Monday” and is a day of universal idleness. Hence probably has arisen the custom, not confined, however, to Belgian workmen alone, of idling every Monday or as they call it “making blue Monday.”
Plough-Monday is the first Monday after Twelfth Day (6th of January), so the date varies from year to year. It is so called because, the Christmas holidays being over, the men return to their plough or daily work. It was customary on this day for farm laborers to draw a plough—called “white” on account of the mummers being dressed in white, gaudily trimmed with flowers and ribbons—through the parish, soliciting “plough-money,” which would be spent in a frolic. The queen of the feast was called Bessy. The plough was also called “fond” or “fool,” because the procession is fond or foolish, not serious nor of a business character.
Dressed in clean white smocks decorated with ribbons, the men dragged a plow (plough) through the village and collected money for the “plow light” that was kept burning in the church all year. Often men from several farms joined together to pull the plow through all their villages. They sang and danced their way from village to village to the accompaniment of music. In the evening, each farmer provided a Plough Monday supper for his workers, with plentiful beef and ale for all.
Some accounts depict something far more like Hallowe’en or carnival—men going door to door in outlandish disguise, singing and demanding a gift, and if they were given nothing, ploughing up the front garden. It seems likely that the original rite, like many such door-to-door seasonal processions, had both aspects—the plough was processed because it brought blessings, but ribaldry attended the celebrations and lack of respect for the plough and its attendants brought retribution. I assume the plough was blessed first, before being taken around.
Found in: Encyclopaedia of Superstitions
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