January 7 - Plough Monday

nPosted on January 7, 2019

Key points

n(First Monday after January 6)

nHere’s a weird – and old – holiday:

nPlough Monday is the traditional start of the agricultural year in Britain. (If it were the U.S., it’d be “Plow Monday.”)

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nPlough Monday is supposed to mark the resumption of work after all the holidays. (January 6 is Epiphany, so many Christmas/New Year celebrations stretch until that date.) But, funnily enough, even though there’s been non-stop holidays for more than a month, with tons of excuses to “eat, drink, and make merry” instead of working, Plough Monday recognizes the resumption of work by being a day when people “eat, drink, and make merry” instead of working!

Here’s how the holiday was celebrated in some regions: Either an old woman or a boy dressed up as an old woman would play a character called “Bessy,” and a man dressed up as an animal character called “the Fool” would join up with musicians and go from door to door, dragging a plough.

nWere they treating homeowners with songs? Did they get treats?

nActually, apparently the door-to-door folks were collecting money. Money to buy seeds for planting? Maybe it was an olde-fashioned crowd-sourcing kickstarter sort of situation?

nThere was often Molly Dancing and sword dancing and “Plough Pudding,” which was a meat and onion pudding made with boiled suet.

nNowadays, some villages and towns have revived Plough Day – at least the dancing and feasting and revelry part of it. A modern variation is men or boys dressing in a layer of straw, and called Straw Bears, going door to door to beg for money.