Monday 7 January 2019

Plough Monday.

'Feasts and Festivals': 10 January: Plough Monday 



Plough deep while sluggards sleep
And you shall have corn to sell and keep.


 
 Plough cMonday, the first Monday after Twelfth Night was the day the agricultural year started, but before they began  their hard work, the plough men and boys took the opportunity to have a bit of fun by dressing up, blacking up, and processing around the village to perform a plough play and hopefully be given some money.  The plough was often blessed in the church on the Sunday before.



Turn out for plough Monday
Up, fellows now
Buckle the horses
And follow the plough. 



I came across a recipe for Norfolk Plough Pudding on a website called Lavender and Lovage, which mentioned an interesting looking  recipe/travel/memoir book of the same name by the web author.... Karen Burns-Booth. Sadly the book is over £30 so it's not one I'll be adding to my wish list!

Thanks to everyone for comments recently and I keep forgetting to say "Hello" to some new followers, approaching 450 now - blimey.

Back Soon
Sue


18 comments:

  1. Plough Monday is one I have never, ever heard of. It sounds fun. In a way it's a shame these old traditions died the death as society changed. THanks for the information.
    xx

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    1. All ploughing is done long before January now and takes hours rather than weeks!

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  2. Reading this it makes me wonder if we are generating any new traditions that will pass on to the next generations as old ones have become outdated and forgotten.

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    1. Traditions of Christmas stuff in the shops straight after Halloween and Easter eggs just after Christmas!

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  3. I can't imagine how difficult times were back then. Great to see a sense of humour while going about their duties. Sue is the header at the top an aerial photo of your home? Sorry if you've already explained but I'm hit and miss with blogging at the moment.

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    1. Yes, Son in Law brought his little drone up when they came to stay over Christmas and this was taken on Christmas eve. next door neighbours stands back to the right and the young family in the eco-home are next, side on to the lane, just one other house in the lane. On the post where I put the photo just after Christmas there is another view too.

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    2. That's great. Drones are so clever unless flown near an airport 😀

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  4. These folklore stories are so interesting! I'm afraid that no one will be ploughing here for about another 4 or 5 months as we are just settling in for the worst of winter and will be in a deep freeze for the next two months.

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    1. Ploughing and sowing here are done straight after harvest nowadays.
      We are still waiting for a prolonged spell of really cold winter weather - hasn't happened yet

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  5. That's a proper stick-to-the-ribs pudding, no doubt much needed after a hard day of ploughing.
    At that price the book is out of my league, too, but she certainly knows how to take a tempting photograph. Her Victorian Epiphany Tart looks special, yet it is really on a jam tart made fancy!

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    1. I loved the cover of the book but by golly what a price!
      Not a slimming recipe that's for sure

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  6. Just read the comment about the drone, how wonderful to have an ariel photo of your home. Love thes old folklore tales. Happy New Year.

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  7. NEw to me! How fun. We have a few therapy horses that were used by the amish to plow. Sadly they have some arthirits from that hard work, but they continue to serve our students.

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  8. Never heard of this. Thanks for sharing with us.

    God bless.

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  9. Plough Monday is a new one for me! Thanks for the link to Lavender and Lovage, I do like the look of that old-fashioned pudding. It will need bookmarking for the next six months as it's boiling hot in Sydney and salads and what-not are more the order of the day for the foreseeable future!

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  10. This is so interesting. I love to learn about traditions and I have never heard about Plough Monday. Your blog looks very intersting. I started at Jenny of Elephantz blog and by some links I ended up here, and also found some more interesting blogs new to me :)

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