God Spede the Plow

God spede the plow
And send us ale corne enow
Our purpose for to mak
At crow of cok
Of the plwlete of Sygate
Be mery and glade
Wat good ale this work mad.*

14th Century Poem

In rural England the first Monday after Twelfth Day (Epiphany) was celebrated as "Plough Monday".  This was the day on which all work resumed after the feasting of the 12 days of Christmas and was seen as the start of the agricultural year in many regions.  The first reports of the traditional celebrations of the day appear in the late 14th century.  

The previous day (Plough Sunday) farmers and ploughmen would have their ploughshares blessed for the coming planting season.  On the Monday a decorated plough was hauled in procession from door to door by stout young ploughmen wearing beribboned hats and clothing with white linen or wool smocks worn over their vests and pants   Often they were accompanied by bullock horn players and dancers.  Amongst the company would be a man (or boy) dressed as a grotesque old woman or "Bessy" and another dressed as a Fool with a donkey's tail hanging from his behind.  A member of the troupe would rattle a box and collect money from the spectators.  Originally the money was to provide candles before certain shrines to pray for a good harvest.  However with the English Reformation such Popish practices were banned and the money collected served a less holy purpose:  it was used to buy ale and refreshments in the local.  On the rare occasion when some small token was not given the "stingy" home owner could find their front yard had been ploughed up. 

A Straw Bear and his Keeper in Whittlesey, 1906

Customs varied from region to region - and often from village to village: in some towns Morris dancers would join the procession, in others it would be sword dancers doing a round-dance with origins in Scandinavia.  In  Cornwall everyone in the procession cross-dressed and there was "guise dancing".

In the Fenlands, a small area on the border region between Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, the strange custom of the "Straw Bear" was central to the celebration but on the Tuesday.  A man (sometimes a boy, often both) was dressed from head to toe in straw and lead from house to house by his keeper.  Once again monies were collected, though to what end other than another trip to the pub, I'm not sure.  It appears that in former times the tradition was so highly regarded that farmers would save their best straw for the costume.  At the end of festivities the costume was burnt in a solemn ceremony.   The Straw Bear appears no where else in England but is often seen on Shrove Tuesday festivities in parts of Germany, Austria and Poland.  

The Straw Bear tradition has been revived in Whittlesey and turned into a four day event, attracting 

performers and tourists from all over.  Here's a video of the 2011 celebrations.

With the coming of industrialization and modernization in the late 19th-early 20th centuries there was no need for the plough and the labours of the ploughman were done by machines.  Though they remained in a handful of small communities the customs of Plough Monday slowly died off.  However the last few years have seen a revival of interest in the old customs and it is not unusual to see forms of Plough Monday celebrations in Cornwall, Essex and the eastern Shires. In many places the "festival" has become a major tourist attraction.

Though most people have returned to their jobs long before the end of Epiphany I wish that in your labours "God spede your plow".

*This is taken from a carving on a wall plaque in the Church of St Agnes in Cawston just north of Norwich.  The livelihood of the parishioners and the well-being of the church depended on a good crop of ale-corn or barley which leads to the pun in the last line:  what good ale this work (the Plough Monday processions) makes.  The reference probably refers to the use of the money donated to buy candles to be lit at the various shrines in the town in hope of a good harvest.  The "plwlete" was the Ploughman's Guild which according to this rhyme were meeting just outside of town at Sygate to begin their procession.  


13 January - 1698:  Matestasio (Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi), poet and librettist was born in the Rome, the Papal States.

The Burning Bush

A sketch of the famous tower by
Rembrandt (who is buried in the church)
is the Westerkerk logo. A right click will
take you to their website.

The very nice gentleman at the souvenir shop in the Westerkerk explained that the church's origins were Calvinist but that after the merger in 2004 of three of Holland's Protestant sects it became a progressive congregation within the communion of the Protestant Church of the Netherlands. He, rather shyly I thought, invited us to morning worship with the comment that the service would be in Dutch but he was sure the hymns would speak to us and we were welcome to take communion with as part of their congregation.

His invitation was hardly out of place when you consider the church's location. Next door is the Anne Frank House, in the church courtyard stands a statue of its little neighbour who wrote of the comfort its bells brought her and from the green space behind it the Homomonument reaches its pink triangle out to touch the waters of the canal. And within is one of the most eloquent and elegant symbols of ecumenicism I have ever seen: Hans 't Mannetje's The Burning Bush.

Created at the suggestion of Fokkelien Oosterwijkm, the church's minister, it was unveiled on December 9, 2007. Taking as its inspiration a passage that is common to the Torah, Christian Bible and the Koran it also draws on the age old tradition of lighting a candle as a way of bringing our wishes, prayers, cares and joys to the Devine. As anyone who has read my blog over the years knows the lighting of a candle has always been my way of remember people I love and care for, their and my wishes, prayers, cares and joys.  During my four years in Italy it was my common, sometimes daily, practice to drop into a church and take a few minutes to light a candle - I'm not sure if it did any good but if nothing else it brought a little light into a patch of darkness. When Laurent and I were married five years ago one of the things we did was to light a candle to represent all of our friends and loved ones who could not be there on that day.   For us that small flame embodied all those we loved, past and present. 

A stylized bush made up of clusters of leaves enclosing candle cups, Hans 't Mannetje's brass sculpture
is a reminder of the commonality of many of the faiths that often seem to stress only their differences.

't Mannetje's magnificent brass monument reminds us that in Judaism, Christianity and Islam the story of Moses and his encounter with his God is common to all three.

Torah תּוֹרָה / Bible
And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

Koran القرآن
Has the story of Moses reached Thee? Behold he saw a fire: So he said to his family, "Tarry ye: I perceive a fire; perhaps I can bring you some burning brand therefrom, or find some guidance at the fire." But when he came to the fire, a voice was heard: "O Moses! "Verily I am thy Lord! Therefore (in My presence) Put off thy shoes: thou art In the sacred valley Tuwa. "I have chosen thee: Listen, then, to the inspiration (Sent to thee). "Verily, I am God: There is no god but I: So serve thou Me (only), And establish regular prayer For celebrating My praise." But when he came to the valley a voice was heard from the right bank of the valley, from a tree in hallowed ground: "Oh Moses. I am Allah, the Lord of the Worlds."

So this morning I lit a candle and placing it into one of the hundreds of cups that make up the Burning Bush  and I remember all my loved ones - their wishes, prayers, cares and joys and for a few minutes a small patch of darkness was illuminated.

10 June -1829: The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place.

A Palm By Any Other Name

Even though I live across the river from Big Ben and the Boys I tend to forget my religious feast days other than Christmas. Oh I know I post a saint-a-day but that's from a fun little website that reminds me that today is San Gontrano or at least it would be if it hadn't been displaced by a greater feast.

This morning as I trundled through the Galleria in Milano towards the Metro I noticed people carrying bundles of olive branches tied with ribbons. If the bells that began sounding at 0730 hadn't been enough to remind me then those little bundles did the trick - today is Palm Sunday. The day when tradition tells us Christ road into Jerusalem on a donkey to the welcoming cries of the populace who spread palm leaves before him.

Despite what the Italians call it palms are not much in evidence here - except those carried by the clergy in procession. The congregation gets blessed olive branches. Why olive branches and not palms? I'm not really sure - but according to the GB's article in Italian Notebook it may just be that that olive trees are more plentiful? I know that back in my church going days in Toronto we always had full palm fronds for the clergy and choir and small palm crosses for the congregation.

And in Poland colourful artificial palms are made of woven husks entwined with dried flowers and carried in procession. In some cases the fronds carried in procession are over 30 meters high. Our housekeeper Christine would always bring us blessed palms like the ones on the right.

In villages in Germany and, as I discovered on my visit to the Medieval and Renaissance galleries at the V&A, England it was not uncommon to have a figure of Christ on a donkey carried or wheeled in procession. Often the procession would wend its way through several villages with the figure being handed over to each village in turn until it ended back in its home parish.

This example of the wood carvers art from the Bode Museum in Berlin was created in the Lower Rhine Valley. It was probably brightly painted when it first appeared in procession in the late 1400s.

28 marzo - Domenica delle Palme