Harvest is the most essential season in agriculture when the product is collected and stored for the first time. Farmers can celebrate their hard work throughout the harvest season before beginning another season.
As a result, harvest celebrations have grown in popularity in certain towns. Harvest festival UK is a yearly celebration which is celebrated by farmers and villagers during the major harvest seasons in a specific region as a thanksgiving ceremony for a successful harvest in the past and also they pray for good crops in future.
Every farmer can tell you that harvest is the most hectic, but most enjoyable time of the year. It is stressful, needs lots of planning, several big machinery and a good wind – however, a flourishing harvest can give plentiful provides of flour, beer, biscuits and breakfast cereal for the coming year.
The weather plays a vital part in an exceedingly thriving harvest. A wet season and winter will stop some farmers from getting crops into the ground, whereas a dry spring will leave grains without the valuable water they need to grow.
Communities all around the world rely on agriculture for food or income. Some communities solely rely on agricultural products to feed their families.
Harvest festivals are celebrated in different regions and countries or states with different names and at different seasons across the world due to climatic and cultural differences. Harvest festivals are mainly celebrated by a successful gathering of villagers where they offer various dishes and cuisine made from the harvested crop.
Farmers and villagers decorate their religious places such as temples and churches with flowers and sing traditional songs and recite prayers. Every Harvest festival celebrated in the world has a different name in traditional differences in different countries and regions.
Origin of Harvest Festival UK
If you talk particularly about the UK, since pagan times here in the UK, people always valued good crops. Depending on local customs, harvest festivities are held in September or October and the festival is known as the Thanksgiving festival. Modern Harvest activities include singing hymns, praying, and adorning churches with baskets of fruit and food.
Farmers and villagers used to praise the pagan gods when all the crops were successfully harvested each fall on harvest day, assuring nourishment for the rural community for the months ahead.
At the start of the summer season, travelling parties of labourers sought employment from farms, and the crop-picking season concluded with a large feast for everybody, known as the harvest supper.
This custom was carried on for generations, but the first formal Harvest Festival in Britain was not documented in history until 1843, when Rev Robert Hawker of Morwenstow, Cornwall, brought local parishioners into his home to receive the Sacrament in “the bread of the fresh crop.”
History of Harvest Festival UK
The name “harvest” represents “autumn” and is derived from the Old English word “harvest,” which properly characterizes the harvest season in the area. This was a critical season in which performance may mean the difference between life and death.
A bountiful crop has ensured that the community would be fed through the potentially bleak winter months. But it is no surprise that it was a superstitious period, and if it succeeded, it was a tremendous delight. Many of these traditions may be traced back to Christianity.
Lammas, which means “bread market,” was celebrated on August 1, marking the start of the harvest season. Farmers baked bread using the fresh wheat crop and donated it to the local church. It was then served as communion bread at special Masses to honour God for the harvest. The ritual ceased when Henry VIII abandoned the Catholic Church, and today a harvest celebration is conducted after the season.
The community nominated a powerful and respected man from the hamlet as the “harvest king” at the start of the harvest. He is in charge of bargaining agricultural pay and organizing field labourers.
On Michaelmas’ Day, the harvest dinner was served to commemorate the conclusion of the harvest. At the head of the table sat the “Lord of the Harvest.” The goose was stuffed with apples and served with a variety of veggies. At this time of year, goose markets are conducted in English towns.
Apart from corn, harvest time involves a whole array of other crops too, including apples, cherries, hops and potatoes. An annual September vacation to the hop fields of Kent gave a breath of fresh air for families living in polluted districts of London in the early half of the twentieth century.
Apples are harvested afterwards during the year, generally around October. Over 2,000 kinds of these delicious fruits were produced in the UK, but currently, it is difficult to locate more than a few of sorts cultivated here in shops. That is why going to an apple day or festival in the countryside, where you can sample a variety of tasty apples, is always a joy.
These were working vacations, and the accommodations were overcrowded and unsanitary. However, for many youngsters, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the countryside, seeing their first cows and roaming free through the forests and fields.
When is Harvest Festival UK Celebrated?
The Harvest Festival is a traditional festival held in England every year on harvest day in the British farming calendar and is an important annual event. Although the UK doesn’t have a national holiday for the harvest festival and there is not any official date for Harvest Festival UK.
It is usually held around Sunday nearest to the full moon, which is the harvest moon of mid-autumn. It is the full moon that occurs on the autumn equinox day closest to autumn. Mid-autumn moons usually appear in September, but may not arrive by October. Also, local harvest time plays a major role in the time of celebration of the harvest festival UK
The celebration expresses gratitude for the food grown on the land, which is why it is an important event in the rural calendar. While harvest celebrations in the whole United Kingdom, various activities take place for a full week in churches and schools which are the main places where the harvest festival is majorly celebrated.
Agriculture Work in UK During Harvest Festival
Like everywhere in the world, farmers in rural areas in the United Kingdom were also used to doing all the manual labour work on farms with traditional hand tools. That time was around the 19th century, which was also considered the best time as, during that time, everyone in the family used to help in the field for farming work due to no existence of modern agricultural equipment and machinery, thereby making strong community relations.
The introduction of contemporary agricultural technology and machinery has made farm work more simpler, faster, and more efficient. The modernization of farming equipment and machinery reduced the amount of labour necessary while increasing farmer production overall.
Farmers now employ power machinery to complete jobs that they used to undertake with animals. This hybrid strategy of current farming practices has enhanced output while decreasing labour requirements.
Top Activities and Traditions that are Followed By Farmers
For many years, the harvest festival UK has followed numerous activities and customs, but the major tradition around which the entire festival revolves is the offering of prayers and gratitude rituals for bountiful harvests.
The traditional celebration consists of singing songs and hymns and traditional prayers as well. Typically, guests bring food, which is distributed to the needy, impoverished, and local community. Food is sometimes sold to raise revenue for charitable causes.
Many old Pagan festivities, such as Christmas and Halloween, have been accepted by the Christian church or as non-religious events, borrowed from Winter Solstice and Celtic New Year traditions. These seasonal events have lasted in British folklore and legacy despite shifting major faiths because they originate in nature and the seasons.
Before the widespread use of imports, a strong harvest was critical to the community’s ability to weather the winter. This is why there has been a Harvest Festival UK for thousands of years. So, what kinds of Harvest customs exist? Modern festivities in England frequently include:
- Historically, every day of the harvest, church bells could be heard. The horse pulling the last cart load was adorned with flower garlands and bright ribbons. To commemorate the completion of the harvest, a spectacular Harvest feast was prepared at the farmer’s home, and games were performed.
- Various harvest ceremonies are associated with the arrival of maize or other cereal crops. One of its field’s traditions, for instance, is ‘Hollaing Largesse.’ If an outsider went through an East Anglian harvesting field, the reapers would form a circle and perform traditional melodies. The stranger is then required to offer a payment to them to help pay for their harvest meal.
- In the harvest field, a final pile of maize held particular significance. In Cornwall, a reaper chops this with a scythe and raises it, screaming. In certain regions of the nation, the event is known as ‘Crying the Mare,’ and it is performed at a different time.
- That last handful of corn stalks may have been braided into a ‘corn dolly.’ This signified the corn’s spirit and was retained until the next spring to ensure a successful harvest the following year. This is known as a Kern Baby in Hampshire and a Kirn Babby in Devon. However, the corn dolly is not usually shaped like a human. The Cambridgeshire Handbell, Durham Chandelier, and Worcester Crown are examples of regional dollies.
- The modern British tradition of celebrating the Harvest Festival in churches began in the 1840s when the Reverend Robert Hawker invited parishioners to a special thanksgiving service at his church at Morwenstow in Cornwall. Victorian, Dutch and German harvest hymns in translation helped popularise his idea of a harvest festival and spread the annual custom of decorating churches with home-grown produce for the Harvest Festival service.
- Rev Piers Claughton of Elton, Huntingdonshire, was another early adoption of the custom as an organised part of the Church of England calendar in or about 1854.
- Many Harvest Festival UK celebrations have shifted in emphasis as British people have begun to rely less largely on home-grown products. Harvest has been increasingly associated with an awareness of and concern for those in need of basic food, for whom raising crops of adequate quality and quantity remains a challenge.
- Development and relief organizations frequently provide tools for use in churches during harvest season that emphasize their concerns for those in need all around the world.
- One of the most important traditions, without which the harvest festival is incomplete, is the practice of decorating churches with flowers and fruits grown on their farm. There were plenty of traditions that were followed in earlier times which are vanished today and are no longer followed.
Food And Recipes Made and Served During Harvest Festival UK
After a long day of harvesting crops on the farm, everyone would meet for a Harvest Supper. They would eat the autumn fruits and veggies while singing and playing games. They make use of seasonal ingredients and flavours or re-create old favourites. Here is a list of foods that are prepared for the Harvest festival UK.
- Apple toffee
- Bread cooked from scratch
- Festival of the Harvest Loaf of sheaf
- Dishes with apples and berries
- Roasted vegetables
- Cakes, pies, and tarts
- Dishes using pumpkin
1. Chocolate-Swirled Pumpkin Muffins
Looking for something sweet? Nothing exactly shouts fall like a pumpkin. Why not transform the innards of your pumpkin into a tasty guilt-free snack this year instead of wasting it? To make delicious, easy pumpkin muffins, check out the recipe.
2. Corn Dollies
Corn dollies have been made for thousands of years and symbolic corn doll is an integral part of this festival. It was a Pagan tradition that originated from the beliefs of maize growers who believed in the Corn Spirit.
Materials used to Make Corn Dollies
Maize dollies were created from the last sheaf of corn harvested during harvest. To ensure a bountiful harvest, the Corn Spirit was said to live or be reincarnated in the plaited straw decoration or corn doll, which was maintained until the next spring. The corn dolly was frequently honoured at the harvest banquet table.
3. Pumpkin Pie
The pumpkin and pumpkin pie are both harvest symbols. Pumpkin pie is often consumed in the fall and early winter. It is typically cooked for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays when pumpkin is in season in the United Kingdom and neighbourhood.
The invention of automation in the 1800s put an end to the trade, but it was reintroduced as a fascinating pastime.
Crops are the farmers’ most significant investment. They work hard till the crops are harvested. So a successful harvest is what they require, and it fills them with immense gratitude hence they get excited while celebrating this great festival. Although, with change in generation, ancient traditions also get changed as it passes from one generation to the other. But despite that the harvest festival UK is still celebrated in the United Kingdom with immense joy and enthusiasm.
Also check out, What’s the National Dish of England
