Harvet Festival – On or Close to a Harvest Moon

A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. Harvest festivals typically feature feasting, both family and public, with foods that are drawn from crops that come to maturity around the time of the festival. Ample food and freedom from the necessity to work in the fields are two central features of harvest festivals: eating, merriment, contests, music and romance are common features of harvest festivals around the world.

Thanks have been given for successful harvests since pagan times. Harvest festival is traditionally held on the Saturday near or onf the Harvest Moon. The celebrations on this day usually include singing, and decorating the Marquee. Decorations include hoops, baskets and wellington boots, and the annual scarecrow competition.

Harvest Lunch, BBQ and Hog Roast

The annual event was held in a large marquee set up in a field next to Withy Road in the village. Harvest Homes started when farmers put on a meal with cider to thank the workers for bringing in the harvest. After the traditional harvest lunch, there were competitions for best decorated baskets and scarecrows, plus live music and entertainment, followed by hog roast.

The tradition of Harvest Home was mentioned in Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, set in 19th Century Dorset. It had become the custom, even then, for farm-owners to provide a feast for their labourers when the harvest had been safely gathered and brought home.

In the mid nineteenth century, farming was a labour-intensive industry. Slowly, down the years, agriculture became increasingly mechanised to the point where the workforce required to run a farm in the current age is but a fraction of that required 200 years ago. Aren’t we lucky?