Plough Monday!

"Plough Monday falls on the first Monday after Twelfth Night. It once marked the end of the Christmas holiday period (often the only holiday of the year for farm labourers) when ploughing would begin for the next crop. In many parts of Britain it used to be a feast day.

Festive village gatherings used to occur around the country, and leaping dances were held, for which athletic young men were chosen as it was thought that the height they leaped to would be the height of the next corn harvest. In some areas farm labourers with blackened faces dragged a decorated plough (often called a 'fool plough') around the streets, and people who didn't donate would often have their garden ploughed up in retaliation. Sometimes a Fool would dance behind the plant, dressed in skins with a tail."

From: Cattern Cakes and Lace, A Calendar of Feasts by Julia Jones and Barbara Deer

Remembering the ploughmen of years ago, lunch today was freshly baked Ploughman's Cottage Loaf with some mature Cheddar and a spot of Apple and Cider Brandy Chutney! I accidentally left the bread to rise at an angle, hence the bizarre shape!!


(Guess who got a new book for Christmas? I feel a sporadic new mini-series coming on!!)