Harvest, the Autumn Equinox. Alban Elfed. The Autumn Equinox. Aequinoctium (Latin). Aequi =Equal. Noct =Night. This is a time in the Earths cycle when the Sun crosses the equator and day and night is equal throughout the World. The hours of daylight and hours of darkness become equal once again throughout the Lands. The Earth now offers up her gifts of fruits and nuts and in the fields the harvests of wheat and corn are coming to completion. In the Highlands of Scotland, much ceremony and celebrations attended the cutting of the corn at this time. People would gather for a ceilidh known as the ‘Maiden Feast’. The Corn Spirit was known as the Maiden, or "A’Mhaighdean" (uh vy-jun) and was generally cut by the youngest boy or girl in the field or the farmer. If the harvest were a successful one, the Maiden would be woven into a shape of a young girl, dressed in fine clothes and mounted with honour on the farmhouse wall until the next years harvest. When she would be broken up and scattered over the fields and ploughed in with the new seeds.. But if the harvest was poor, she was woven into a shape of the old Hag, the Cailleach and dressed as an old woman. In the Hebrides, the last sheaf cut was known as the Cailleach, or ‘Gobhar Bhacach (lame goat), which was supposed to bring the bearer bad luck. The farmer who had just finished his harvest would throw the last sheaf into his neighbour’s field that was still to be harvested. In this manner the Cailleach might be passed hand to hand as each man finished his harvest. Each farmer passing it along from field to field to until it was left with the last to finish, and so be left with the Cailleach. This was meant to be extremely unlucky because it was thought that his family would actually have to house and support through the winter a real poor old woman. Alexander Carmichael recorded that, " the day people began to reap the corn was a day of commotion and ceremonial in the town land. The whole family repaired to the field dressed in their best attire to hail the God of the Harvest. Laying his bonnet on the ground, the father of the family took up his sickle, and facing the Sun, he cut a handful of corn. Putting the handful of corn three-times sun- wise round his head, the man raised the ‘Iolach Buana’, the reaping salutation. The whole family took up the strain and praised the God of the Harvest, who gave them corn and bread, food and flocks, wool and clothing, health and strength, and peace and plenty." So this was a time of celebration, where families worked hard to get the harvests in, and celebrated Earths gifts. A time of thanksgiving, as the doorway to the winter months are now opening and summer has come to an end. A time of balance as the daylight and hours of darkness are again equal throughout the world as the Sun Fathers strength is waning fast and the days will become shorter and colder. As our ancestors honoured the changing season and entered the dark months, they were not afraid as these months brought them in touch with their spiritual self and a reconnection to their inner wisdom. They knew of the opposites of Spring and Autumn, of light and dark, death and rebirth, and honoured the balance this brought, looking forward to the changing season which brings them a chance to start all over again. Blessed be.
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 08:11:06 +0000
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