'"Tis But A Thing of Straw"

 I unpinned my corn dolly from the top corner of the bookshelves when they were emptied ready for moving when the floor was being done and bits fell off it. It's looking very faded too.

This is how it looked when new

 So I had to look back on the blog to see how old it was and turns out I got it in October 2020 because of the connection to the Ogham Tree Alphabet which has Wheat Straw representing October to November.

The Wheat-straw Page from Karen Cater's book" Ogham Sketch Book"

Later I was shifting more books from the living room shelves out of the way and re-found a sort of scrap book I started with great plans about 8 years ago. (This is a different scrap book to my two old fashioned scrapbooks started in 2021!) It has cuttings about the seasons and weather folklore taken from the pages that I wrote for the Suffolk Smallholders Society newsletter and cuttings from Country Wisdom and Folklore Diaries but not much else. Trouble is they are all stuck in with glue and can't be taken out.........Anyway, while I was flicking through a loose cutting fell out -taken from an old Folklore Diary all about Corn Dollies. Ah Ha I thought - I can make a blog post from this. ............

From the diary

Twisting and plaiting straw to make effigies and other objects has been practised all over the world and is closely linked to harvest thanksgiving. In the British Isles, the men who brought in the harvest traditionally made a human-like form out of the last wheat standing. This tradition developed to become a decorative pastoral craft often practised by women. Crafting these symbols of good luck and fertility, which reflected superstitious beliefs also enabled them to earn a small extra income. In it's purest form, the corn doll was used to than Mother Earth for the harvest.

'Tis but a thing of straw' they say,

yet even straw can sturdy be

Plaited into a doll like me.

And in the days of long ago

To help the seeds once more to grow

I was an offering to the gods.

A very simple way indeed

Of asking them to intercede

That barn and granary o'erflow

At harvest time, with fruit and corn

To fill again Amalthea's horn.

Minnie Lambert 1957 

(Amalthea's horn is another name for a Cornucopia)

From the book Cattern Cakes and Lace by Julia Jones

Great ceremony was always attached to the harvesting of the last sheaf  and a great Harvest Shout was raised by the reapers as it was cut. It was treated with special respect and used to make the corn dolly which would be carried home atop of the last load from the field. In the following year the Corn Dolly would be planted in the first furrow on Plough Monday, so that it's spirit would be released and ensure another good harvest.

Many parts of the country gave names to the dolly made from the last sheaf. In Devon the 'Crying The Neck and Kirn Baby'. In Hertfordshire 'The Mare'. In Shropshire ' The Old Hare'. In Hampshire 'Kern Baby' and in the Highlands of Scotland it was called 'The Maiden'.

I may have a morning out sometime to Corncraft  in Monks Eleigh for a new corn dolly, a look around their shop - and a coffee and cheese scone of course!

Back Soon

Sue