Plough Monday

Next: Monday 11 January 2027

The first Monday after Twelfth Night, when ploughboys once dragged a plough round the parish for money.

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The year ahead

Monday 11 January

Mon 11 Jan 16:30 22:00
Custom

Balsham Plough Monday

Sets off from Prince’s Close, Balsham, Cambridgeshire

Friday 15 January

Fri 15 Jan All day
Custom, day 1 of 3

Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival

Manor Leisure Centre, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire

Saturday 16 January

Sat 16 Jan Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival day 2 of 3 · All day

Sat 16 Jan 09:30 16:00
Custom

Goathland Plough Stots Day of Dance

Goathland Community Hub, Goathland, North Yorkshire

Sunday 17 January

Sun 17 Jan Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival day 3 of 3 · All day

Folklore from the old calendars

Cock in the pot on Plough Monday No longer kept EnglandTusser counted Plough Monday among the ploughman's feast days, and Tusser Redivivus of 1744 explained the rhyme that went with it.
Goose-dancing in Scilly No longer kept Isles of ScillyHone's Table Book, quoting the Monthly Magazine of January 1827, says that at Plough Monday time the young people of the Isles of Scilly went goose-dancing.
Largess for the fool-plough No longer kept Northern EnglandAt Christmas bands of rustics in white and coloured ribbons dragged a plough round the villages, begging drink money, with a man dressed as an old woman called the Bessy and a Fool rattling a collecting box.
Leading the plough about the fire Lore and belief EnglandIn the late Middle Ages some country people began the year by leading a plough round the fire, so that they would fare the better all the year after.
Plough Monday morris at Claybrooke No longer kept LeicestershireAulay Macaulay, in his History and Antiquities of Claybrooke of 1791, wrote that every Plough Monday a company of morris dancers came into Claybrooke from the neighbouring villages of Sapcote and Sharnford.
The Lord Mayor’s Plough Monday wassail No longer kept LondonOn Plough Monday the Lord Mayor of London kept wassail with his household, with the Lady Mayoress at the head of their table.
The Madgy Pegs of Whitby No longer kept YorkshireOn Plough Monday at Whitby an extra band of six danced the sword dance, ending by plaiting their swords into a hexagon or rose that one of them held up above their heads.
The plough light at Holbeach No longer kept Lincolnshire, NorfolkMany churches before the Reformation kept a plough light burning before an image, paid for by the husbandmen, who feasted on Plough Monday and went about with a plough and dancers.
The plough-gathering at Wigtoft No longer kept LincolnshireIn 1575 the churchwardens of Wigtoft in Lincolnshire received a pound from two men for the plough-gathering, the money collected when the ploughmen went round with their plough.
The sock-men’s ploughs No longer kept Northern EnglandOn Plough Monday, ploughmen in the north dragged a plough from door to door and begged money for drink.

Monday 11 January

Balsham Plough Monday

Friday 15 January

Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival

Saturday 16 January

Goathland Plough Stots Day of Dance

Sunday 17 January

Folklore from the old calendars

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