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Harvest Festival Buying Guide

It's time to break out the scarves  - summer is winding down and there's definitely a chill in the air.  The leaves have started to lose their green lustre, and soon the earth will fall back into a long and cold slumber.  However there's no need to mourn the end of the season just yet - not when autumn  has just begun!  Soon the trees will come alive with rich shades of crimson and gold, and the harvest will be celebrated all across the country.

History

The Harvest Festival is celebrated in September, on or near the Sunday of the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox on September 21.  This celebration dates back to pre-Christian times, when the quality of life was directly dependent on the success of that year's harvest.  To praise a job well done, a great feast was held for all members of the community, and in order to encourage a successful growing year to come, a portion of that year's crop was offered to the fertility gods and goddesses.

Celebrate

Nowadays, thanks to advances in agriculture, technology and such simple things as grocery store, we are no longer as intimately linked to the land, but this does not mean that the Harvest Festival cannot still be enjoyed by all.  Thanksgiving celebrations are usually held at local churches and often there are community a harvest supper in which attendees are asked to bring a dish to share (for recipe ideas, please see the External Links at the end of this guide).

Long ago, a corn dolly  was made out of the last sheaf harvested.  It was traditionally believed that the spirit of the corn lived amongst the crop, and once the harvest took place, this spirit would be without a home.  Therefore, the corn dolly provided a home until the sowing could take place the following year.  There are still a number of corn dollies available online, or you can find instructions on making your own in our External Links below.

Decorate

Get into the spirit with some festive decorations.  A warm-toned colour palate using reds, golds, oranges and browns is the easiest way to spruce up your living space, but don't hesitate to go the extra mile and use some autumn leaves and harvest fruits to really make a statement!  Below you will find some helpful searches that will help you celebrate in style.

Decorative Gourds 

Autumn Garlands 

Autumn Candles 

Wheat Sheaves 

Autumn-Coloured Ribbon 

Recipes

Treat yourself to some harvest-themed delicacies.  These rich, spicy flavours will satisfy your palate and keep you warm on a brisk autumn evening.

Trick or Treat Dip

Autum Vegetable Soup

Roast Quail

Hearty Autumn Hotpot

Autumn Pudding

Elocute

Don't forget about songs and the written word this autumn.  The most well-known harvest song is arguably John Barleycorn, a ballad relating to the death of the Corn King, but there are a number of poems to share with your friends and family.

Autumn Fires

In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons
Something bright in all
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

-Robert Louis Stevenson 

Gathering Leaves

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?

-Robert Frost 

The Hayloft

Through all the pleasant meadow-side
The grass grew shoulder-high,
Till the shining scythes went far and wide
And cut it down to dry.

Those green and sweetly smelling crops
They led in waggons home;
And they piled them here in mountain tops
For mountaineers to roam.

Here is Mount Clear, Mount Rusty-Nail,
Mount Eagle and Mount High;--
The mice that in these mountains dwell,
No happier are than I!

Oh, what a joy to clamber there,
Oh, what a place for play,
With the sweet, the dim, the dusty air,
The happy hills of hay!

-Robert Louis Stevenson


Related Guides

Vegetable Seeds Buying Guide

Garden Tools Buying Guide

Autumn Crafts Buying Guide

Halloween Crafts Buying Guide

Wreath Making Buying Guide

External Links