Back to work

Historically, Christmas holiday celebrations used to last from 25th December until “Twelfth Night”, the 6th January. That is when the festivities would end and it was time to go back to work. For many people that meant farming and particularly at that time of year, ploughing.

So the Sunday after Twelfth Night became “Plough Sunday”. The village plough (in many villages it would have been a shared communal plough) was brought in to the church to ask God to bless the work that would be done with it.  After the service the plough would be taken round the village, sometimes with Morris Dancing. It was heavy to carry so there were stops for refreshment at all the pubs. Villagers were invited to make a contribution to the cost of the upkeep of the plough and the Church that had blessed it.  If it was felt that a villager hadn’t given a large enough contribution then they might discover that their garden was used for a bit of ploughing practice!
As the festival degenerated into drunkenness, dancing and demanding money with menaces churches got uncomfortable with it. It became celebrated less frequently, which was regrettable. The principles of God being interested in our work, of community and giving are important.
This year we will celebrate Plough Sunday on 9th January at 10.00am at Hanley William. We’ll try and avoid too much drunkenness and demanding money with menaces! I quite like Morris dancing so if anyone wants to dance, that’s fine with me.