The Old English word ‘Haerfest’ is another word for Autumn - a time for gathering in crops. The Feast of Michaelmas (29thSeptember) could be seen as a celebratory harvest supper when the last of the harvest had been ‘safety gathered in.’ This phrase and the spirit of harvest is captured by Charles Wesley in a verse of a hymn.
COME, ye thankful people, come,
Raise the song of harvest-home:
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin:
God our Maker doth provide
For our wants to be supplied:
Come to God's own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest-home!
The celebration of harvest festivals in churches is a relatively new festival. Its introduction is credited to a Cornish Vicar, the Revd. Robert Hawker. On October 1st in 1843. Hawker invited his Morwenstow congregation to receive ‘the bread of the new corn’. This idea gained in popularity with other congregations; and harvest festivals continue to be held on the Sunday closest to the September Harvest moon. The Harvest moon is the full moon nearest to Autumnal Equinox. In common with Easter and other Christian festivals this is moveable, i.e. the celebration day is variable.
The Rules of The Church of England state:
Harvest Thanksgiving may be celebrated on a Sunday and may replace the provision for that day provided it does not supersede any Principal Feast or Festival. It is included under the heading Local Celebrations.
Customs may vary but in general churches are decorated with seasonal flowers, fruits and vegetables, baking and corn dollies.
In bygone days, harvesting was very hands-on and involved all the farming community. Farm labourer numbers increased hugely in the late months of summer and early autumn. Combine harvesters have reduced the workload for seed crops, but migrant workers still augment regular farmworker numbers in Scottish berry fields. In days within my memory, city children from nearby Dundee and travelling families worked in the summer berry and later in October, potato fields, of Angus (during their ‘Tattie holidays’).
Harvest Home, known colloquially as Horkey in some English counties, was a rewarding celebration of the ‘gathering in’. The grand finale of a productive season. This supper, often held in a decorated barn or in the village square, encouraged jollity and festive revelry. ‘Church’ bells were rung and there was feasting and dancing. The event was sometimes called a Mell Supper, referring to the last handful of ears left standing – known as the ‘Mell’ or the Neck (gander’s neck). James Frazer (The Golden Bough) notes that the naming of the last sheaf varied regionally. In the Hebrides, it was called the ‘Cailleach’ (corn mother - old wife in Gaelic) and in Orkney, the straw was shaped as a dog known as ‘Bikko’ meaning the ‘Bitch’. Frazer writes at length about corn spirits as animals in The Golden Bough (Chapter XLVIII). In the East Riding of Yorkshire, Frazer tells of a custom called Burning the Old Witch. This was observed on the last day of harvest – the burning of a figure which represented the corn spirit. The harvesters, of golden fields of wheat, were known as reapers. The reapers worked the field in a decreasing circle, leaving the centre of the field until last. Superstition has it that the corn spirit hid in the remaining final ears, and this resulted in the reapers being reluctant to cut down these sheaves. Scythes and sickles were hurled from a distance towards the final ears of corn, therein ensuring that no labourer could be accused of capturing the ‘corn spirit’. The last handful of corn stalks were then woven into a ‘corn dolly’. This represented the spirit of the corn and was kept for the following year to ensure a good harvest.
In Pagan times, harvesters believed that the reaper who worked on the last sheaf should be killed. His blood would enrich the soil. The hooded grim reaper with scythe in hand, still personifies death to this day.
Fortunately, death-by-harvesting-the-final-sheaf, is no longer on any harvest agenda. Whatever the local custom, the end of reaping was a party occasion. Once the corn was cut, the season’s work was done.
However, in today’s fast moving world Christian customs and feasts are also being eroded; this includes the relatively new church festival of Harvest.
Jesus clearly refers to God as the ‘Lord of the Harvest’ (Matt 9:38). On a practical rather than spiritual level this title was given to the person who supervised and led the harvest work. The Lord of the Harvest, a sober and hard-working man, set the working pace.
Margaret Baker quotes :
“Grant, harvest-lord more by a penny or two,
To call on his fellows, the better to do;
Give gloves to they reapers a largesse to crie,
And daily loiterers have a good eie.”
Harvest hands or reapers were gifted gloves to aid working with rogue thistles.Interestingly, ‘Glove money’ was still noted on harvest wages into the twentieth century.
The Harvest Lord was responsible for negotiating wages and general organisation. His reward was to head the Michaelmas or, in later days, the ‘Harvest’ Supper table. The tradition of Medieval times when young women wore ‘wheaten hats’ and were crowned as Harvest Queens, is sadly now history. We live in an era when farm machinery has reduced the need for farm labourers - and harvest celebrations are left in the hands of dwindling church congregations. The very idea of a harvest service is not yet two centuries old and yet, Harvest Thanksgiving services are now in the doldrums - doomed by heavy industrialisation and city dwelling.
Yet, all is not lost because there is a current bid to reconnect with nature. The turning of summer into autumn is the time to gather wild fruits, berries and seeds. Blackberries aside, many wild berries are passed by. Crab apples are high pectin and marry well in a jelly with rowan berries. Bramble and apple scented with angelica is a new-to-me recipe idea for 2023.
Allotment plots currently have substantial wait lists and environmental issues are, albeit slowly, reaching the top of political agendas. Recapturing lost Christian traditions gives an opportunity to stop and stare and give thanks for each season as it passes. October brings the end of the wheat growing season, but Michaelmas Daisies (symbolising Patience and Farewell in Flower Language) will continue to flower, while fruits that benefit from a touch of frost, medlars and sloes, are still to be gathered in
.
The Michaelmas Daisies, among dede weeds,
Bloom for St Michael’s valorous deeds.
And seems the last of flowers that stood,
Till the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude.”
‘Frumenty’, a porridge-type gruel made from wheat, milk and spices (and often laced with alcohol) was used to celebrate holidays. It receives worthy mention in Thomas Hardy’s tale of ‘The Mayor of Castlebridge’. The name of the dish comes from Latin frumentum – grain. Frumenty was served on Mothering Sunday, at Christmas time, but also at Harvest festivals.
Recipes for Frumenty, fruity or Furmenty (pronounced furmety) vary. Some recipes parboil the wheat before cooking it in milk. This makes sense for busy cooks. This is a recipe that epitomises slow food but you could use readily prepared bulgur (cracked) wheat to speed up the process.
Pound the wheat to remove the hulls. Half fill a large jar with washed wheat. Cover it with milk (try almond milk as in Medieval times) and cook in a low oven overnight or (in 2023 use a slow cooker) until the wheat has swollen (known as creed wheat). Flavour and sweeten the frumenty with sugar, floral essence spices and dried fruits. Alternatively, simmer on a low heat until the wheat is gruel / porridge consistency. Be sure to watch liquid levels and top up as necessary - the grains cook by the absorption method.
Frumenty may have started out as a savoury dish - try it with venison or chicken. For celebration feasts it was laced with alcohol – often rum. Thomas Hardy preferred frumenty spiced with rum! Frumenty is a Medieval (rather chewy) Wheat Porridge. Once you have mastered the art ring the recipe changes: swap almond for coconut milk, and for less healthy ideas, maple syrup and lashings of cream.
Tell me about pressure cooking or slow cooking frumenty - recipe for my next book, please. Contract signed circa 2014🙈 Listen to the Archers Lark Rise to Ambridge aired this afternoon 👏📕❤️
I found this so interesting. We had a lovely Harvest Festival in my local church, here in our little London village of Ham. We had beautiful produce from people’s allotments, as well as locally foraged blackberries in various pies. It’s fascinating to learn about the history of Harvest. Thank you.