A Harvest Service with two harvest loaves made by two different 'Lorries'! The loaves for Clenston's harvest service were made by Lorrie - and Laurence and his elder sister, Izzy. They were placed on either side of the cross in church. Lorrie makes her beautiful traditional harvest loaf to be shared with different care communities later in the week. Laury and Izzy's bread will be frozen and used again for another harvest service. During the service, Rev'd Alan told us why these loaves had become a traditional part of a harvest celebration.
The ancient Celtic world gave thanks as the
harvest began to be brought in, and the first bread from the first flour from
the first wheat was baked. The first day of August was the date of their
festival, and the first Saxon Christians simply took it over and renamed it
‘loaf mass’, which in time became ‘Lammas’. Lammas was celebrated until the
Industrial Revolution began to drive a cast-iron wedge between the people and
the land and its ancient rhythms.
Gradually Lammas, like Plough Sunday and
Rogation, began to die out except in the most rural communities, and no longer
were the first harvest loaves brought to church at Lammas-tide to be offered on
the altar as a thanksgiving for the first fruits of the harvest.
A priest of the Church of England, Robert
Hawker, revived something of the ancient Lammas tradition in his little parish
of Morwenstow in Cornwall. Hawker was a highly colourful figure in more senses
than one. He dressed in a deep red coloured coat, a blue fisherman’s jersey,
long sea-boots, a pink brimless hat and a poncho made from a yellow horse
blanket.
In 1843 he introduced the first ever Harvest
Festival service, inviting his parishioners to give thanks to God for a
plentiful yield from the land. He moved the service from the traditional
beginning of harvest, 1st August, to its end – 1st
October, which is why Harvest Festival is now always at either the end of
September or the beginning of October.
From that remote Cornish parish the custom
rapidly spread until nearly every church of nearly every denomination in nearly
every part of the country had to have its harvest festival.
And still the harvest loaf is an essential part
of it all. It is ornamental rather than functional. But it is still a reminder
of the centrality of bread to so many cultures, and our reliance upon it.
Laury and Izzy spent Saturday afternoon at The Rectory learning how to make a harvest loaf. But first, they had to learn to make hedgehogs by shaping the dough and cutting the spines with scissors. While these baked in the oven, we set about making the harvest loaf complete with mouse. There was a lot of concentration and hard work (and quite a lot of fun!) It is lovely to be able to share these skills and hopefully we will have a few more people ready to make the harvest loaf - or loaves, for our harvest festivals next year!
