{"id":14657,"date":"2024-09-09T11:27:19","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T10:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14657"},"modified":"2024-09-09T11:28:10","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T10:28:10","slug":"welsh-traditions-6-medi-harvest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14657","title":{"rendered":"Welsh Traditions 6 – Medi – Harvest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WELSH TRADITIONS 6<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

MEDI – HARVEST
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The Welsh word \u2018medi\u2019 is a verb meaning \u2018to reap\u2019 or \u2018to harvest\u2019 and as a proper noun, \u2018Medi\u2019, is the name of the ninth month of the year, namely September – the month when the crops are harvested, of course. The English word \u2018harvest\u2019 comes from the Anglo-Saxon word \u2018haerfest\u2019 – and it was used as the name of the third season until around the 16th Century when it was superseded by the name \u2018Autumn\u2019.<\/p>\n

There are a number of customs and traditions associated with the harvest season here in Wales. It was, of course, the most important period in the agricultural year – and before the dawn of mechanisation, all the neighbouring farmers and farm hands would gather at each farm in turn to see to the harvest. In Welsh, there is a name for this practice of community aid – \u2018cymhortha\u2019 – a word based on the noun \u2018cymorth\u2019 meaning \u2018help, aid, assistance\u2019. The same thing happened at other busy times in the year – sheep shearing, lambing, crop planting and so on.<\/p>\n

The custom known as \u2018Y Gaseg Fedi\u2019 <\/em>(The Harvest Mare) was an important element at the end of harvesting. The name \u2018Y Gaseg Fedi\u2019 <\/em>was given to the very last sheaf of corn to be cut. The sheaf was divided into three by the senior farmhand and plaited. The reapers would then take it in turn to throw their scythe or sickle at the sheaf to see who could cut it down. The person who succeeded would recite the following, traditional lines (translated here)<\/p>\n

\u2018I tracked her,<\/p>\n

In the late evening I followed her,<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve caught her, I\u2019ve caught her!\u2019<\/p>\n

The other reapers would respond –<\/p>\n

\u2018What did you catch?\u2019<\/p>\n

and the reply would be –<\/p>\n

\u2018A hag! A hag! A hag\u2019!<\/p>\n

\u2018Gwrach\u2019 <\/em>(Hag) was another name given to the Harvest Mare.<\/p>\n

At the end of the corn harvest, the farmer\u2019s wife would organise a Harvest Supper for the neighbours who had helped with the harvesting. There was always plenty of food and locally brewed beer. In some areas, a sweet dish called \u2018whipod\u2019 was served. It consisted of a mixture of rice, white bread, dried fruit and treacle. In nearby Cardiganshire in 1760, a farmer reported that the feast following the reaping of his rye by about 50 neighbours consisted of \u2018a brewing pan of beef and mutton, with a range and potatoes and pottage, and pudding of wheaten flour, about 20 gallons of light ale and over twenty gallons of beer\u2019. After the meal, there was usually dancing to the music of the fiddle, with a plentiful supply of beer and tobacco.<\/p>\n

It was seen as an honour in Wales to be the one to bring down the caseg fedi<\/em>, and the man who succeeded in doing so was often rewarded. The winning reaper was faced with the task of carrying the Harvest Mare into the house – making certain that it was kept perfectly dry. But this gave rise to great revelry as the women present attempted to drench it with water before it reached the house. If he\u2019d been successful in keeping the sheaf dry, he would be given an honoured seat at the Harvest Supper table with plenty of ale to drink. But if he\u2019d failed to keep it dry, he would have to sit at the far end of the table, have no ale to drink and suffer the taunts of his fellow diners throughout the meal!<\/p>\n

The \u2018caseg fedi<\/em>\u2019 may have represented the fertility of the harvest condensed into the final sheaf and it was believed\u00a0that a spirit resided in the last sheaf of grain to be harvested. In one part of Wales, it was recorded that seed from it was mixed with the seed at planting time \u2018in order to teach it to grow\u2019. In other parts of Britain, this last sheaf was buried on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany (6 January), so that it could work its magic on the growing corn.<\/p>\n

Once the grain harvest proper and the Harvest Supper were over, the women could begin gleaning, i.e. scouring the fields for the leftover ears of corn which they could claim and keep for themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Gleaners by Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Millet<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

People have been giving thanks for the harvest since farming first began in the Neolithic era. Today, it has become a Christian festival of Thanksgiving and is celebrated in most chapels, churches and schools – usually on the first Sunday following the Full Moon closest to the Autumn Equinox. However, the traditions outlined above are far older than Christianity and this Christian assembly only became popular in Victorian times when, in 1843, a Reverend R. S. Hawker had the idea of holding a special service on the first Sunday in October in his Cornwall parish. The idea caught on and soon it became the custom to decorate churches with fruit, vegetables and flowers and to sing the harvest hymns written for the occasion.<\/p>\n

Harvest has now become a time when people come together to give thanks for our own good fortune, to donate food to the needy, and to raise money for worthy causes. Thus Harvest still commemorates not just the gathering of the fruits of the Earth, but also the community cooperation that exists to extend a helping hand to people less fortunate than ourselves.<\/p>\n

Ann M. Jones<\/p>\n

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WELSH TRADITIONS 6 MEDI – HARVEST The Welsh word \u2018medi\u2019 is a verb meaning \u2018to reap\u2019 or \u2018to harvest\u2019 and as a proper noun, \u2018Medi\u2019, is the name of the ninth month of the year, namely September – the month when the crops are harvested, of course. The English word \u2018harvest\u2019 comes from the Anglo-Saxon word \u2018haerfest\u2019 – and it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3Op","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14259,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14259","url_meta":{"origin":14657,"position":0},"title":"Welsh Traditions 2 Calan Mai – May Day","author":"Alan Williams","date":"16th May 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"WELSH TRADITIONS 2 CALAN MAI - MAY DAY In the old Celtic Year, the summer season consisted of the months of May, June and July so the first day of May was also the first day of summer. 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