Harvest Home and the Hock Cart

24 September

No longer kept

England

In the southern counties the reapers chose a lord of the harvest to bargain with the farmer and lead the work, and in Buckinghamshire a lady as well, with fines for anyone who got the order of drinking wrong. The last load came home on the hock cart, topped with a figure made from a sheaf or with a girl of the reaping band, while the reapers shouted and sang round it. In Lincolnshire those riding the last load rang hand-bells, and in Buckinghamshire people hid by the road to drench the hock-cart party with water.

Harvest-home, harvest-home, We have ploughed, we have sowed, We have reaped, we have mowed

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 2, pp. 376-377. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

The Kirn No longer kept ScotlandIn Scotland the words harvest home were unknown, and the feast at the end of harvest was the kirn or kirn supper, thought to be named from the churn of cream served at it.
Crying the Neck Still kept Devon, West CountryIn Devon the last handful of standing corn was called the nack or neck.
The Cripple Goat No longer kept Inner HebridesOn Skye the farmer who finished his harvest first sent the last handful he had cut to the next farmer still at work, calling it the cripple goat.
Crying the Mare No longer kept Hertfordshire, ShropshireIn Hertfordshire and Shropshire the reapers left the last few stalks standing and tied them up as the mare, then threw their sickles at it until one cut it down.
The Corn Baby and the Mell Supper No longer kept Northern EnglandIn the north of England the harvest feast was the mell supper.

Harvest Home and the Hock Cart

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