So what exactly is Lammas? Good question! The Celts called it Lughnasadh, named for the Celtic sun god Lugh while the Saxons had it Hlaf maesse or Leff messe and later loaf mass which loosely means first bread so a celebration of the first fruits of the harvest would be a good way of describing Lammas.

However, that would be like describing Christmas as a time of binge drinking! Hmm … perhaps not a good comparison as there was plenty of that going on too! Anyway, you get the drift. Lammas, at least to our ancestors was a hugely important celebration as it marked the end of the growing season and the ripening of the first fruits.

With our stuffed full supermarkets and takeaways, it’s difficult to appreciate what this meant to our agrarian ancestors who often experienced a “hungry gap” during the early summer when last year’s stores ran low and the burgeoning harvest had yet to ripen.

Not surprisingly, the growing crops were anxiously watched and once the first fields of corn ripened, they were quickly harvested and the grains made into bread. These first loaves figured prominently in various pagan ceremonies throughout the world, most of which are now lost. Some of the rites did survive and many churches held or still hold a Lammas service where the first bread of the harvest is blessed.

Later day pagans of course have their own ceremonies and as do many other lovers of the natural world that still have a sense of connection to the great wheel of life, endlessly repeating its message of life, death and rebirth.

With the success or otherwise of the harvest being so crucial to winter survival it is little wonder our ancestors were not above a little bribery, offering the gods the first fruits of their efforts in the form of corn dollies.

You will no doubt have been told or read that corn dollies were made from the last remaining stands of corn where it was said the earth mother or spirit of the corn dwelt. This is quite true, but what is not generally realised is that corn dollies or corn babies were also made at the beginning of the harvest as good luck charms or as some think, offerings of appreciation (or supplication to fickle gods).

You can often see a remnant of this custom amongst country folk even now when crusts and crumbs are shared with the wild folk of the hedgerows. (Birds as we know, being messengers of the otherworld, should always be treated with the greatest respect!)

Harvest still remains an anxious time, even for those of us in the developed world. In spite of our cleverness, we are always at the mercy of the weather and within hours a whole crop can be laid waste under the wrath of a violent thunderstorm or be reduced to ashes by a lightening strike. In the uncertain world of our rural dwelling ancestors, the precariousness of the harvest was even more of an issue which is why the celebrations were often loud, raucous and rowdy, greatly aided no doubt by some of those first grains being fermented into something warming and decidedly conscious altering!

In view of this, the Folk on the Farm team feel duty bound to continue this ancient tradition and will be celebrating Lammas with their usual gusto and enthusiasm for both the grape and the grain with a table laden with bread, cake, bread, pies, bread, puddings and er … bread and if we can move after all that bread we’ll indulge in a little morris, a spot of storytelling and a few rousing toasts to old Barleycorn!

It was an ambitious project to turn last year’s Ashby Arts Festival project, a DVD of Johanne with the Long Hair into a live performance set against a back drop of a photographic slideshow, but the Folk On The Farm team pulled it off with their usual degree of accomplishment.

The appreciative audience quickly fell under the spell of our two off-beat storytellers, the Old Goodwife and the weaselly Friar Bernard.   The magic of Calling Time’s musical scores and lyrical songwriting soon had feet tapping and hands clapping.

The second half of the evening saw national storyteller, Sophie Snell join in the fun with some shivery stories featuring the perils of tangling with fairy fiddlers and unquiet graves!  Calling Time rocked up the folk to the point where the audience finally took to the floor, showing a lively set of heels as they manfully tried to keep pace with a spirited set of jigs and reels.

Lots of clips on Youtube so take a look.

Sleet, Shoots and Leaves, our  major, Ashby Arts Festival event takes place this Friday and our publicity efforts have just received a big boost courtesy of our local radio station!

Hermitage fm has invited some of our Folk on the Farm team to take part in its afternoon show this coming Wednesday, 26^th May.

We’ll be on air from about 2.15 p.m. onwards.  Not quite sure what to expect, but hopefully we’ll be hearing some of the poems and songs which are featured in the show.

You can tune in on 99.2 fm or you can listen on the web.  Go to: http://www.hermitagefm.com and click the Listen Live button top left corner.

If visuals are more your thing, take a look at our Pedlar man sample: Pedlarman

Take one lowly milkmaid, a high born knight, a meddlesome monk and a mischievous old biddy with a fondness for green magic and you’ve a tabloid topping headline show set to be the premier event of the 2010 Ashby de la Zouch Arts Festival.

Taking place at the Lyric Rooms, Ashby de la Zouch on Friday, 28^th May, 7.30 p.m. Johanne with the long hair is based on a local legend of love, tragedy and betrayal.  Set amongst the enigmatic ruins of Knowle Hill lying between Ticknel and Ingleby, the tale will be told in story, song and poetry set against a stunning audio visual show of original music and photographs all shot within the National Forest.

Johanne with the Long Hair forms the opening act of the three hour show, Sleet, Shoots and Leaves and will be followed by the Killing Trees presented by nationally acclaimed storyteller, Sophie Snell.

Local folk band, Calling Time wind up the event with the Flowers of the Forest, an eclectic mix of heart renderingly beautiful songs from the pen of Julie Holland and a feast of foot stomping reels and jigs from the long tradition of English folk music.

Local poets, Sue Kendrick from Newbold and Lois Crofton from Worthington, will be lauching their first ever poetry anthology at Ashby’s Arts Festival.

Sleet, Shoots and Leaves follows the seasons through the National Forest in verse and photography and was first published in 2009 as a limited edition to family and friends of the poetic duo.

The anthology is now being launched to a wider readership as the pair have joined forces with another local writer and musician, Julie Holland, also from Newbold, who has set much of the verse from the anthology to music and incorporated it into a three hour festival show.

The show, Sleet, Shoots and Leaves takes its name from the anthology and open’s the Arts Festival on Friday, 28^th May, 7.30 p.m. at the Lyric Rooms, Ashby de la Zouch.

Sue and Lois will be on hand to take orders for the Sleet, Shoots and Leaves anthology, but if you have an extra special birthday coming up and can’t wait for the Festival, you can order direct from the Folk on the Farm shop.

Lots of St. George’s Day events taking place all over the country including Loughborough where I’ll be dancing with Bare Bones border morris team. It’s only the fourth time I’ve danced in public so still a nerve wracking experience.

What the heck! If St. George can take on a dragon, what’s a bit of public skipping in comparison! You can catch Bare Bones and some young rappers outside the Town Hall on Friday, 23rd April from 12.20 p.m.

If you can’t make it, plenty of other events around the locality! Here’s list:

Loughborough – a large number of events have been planned throughout the Borough to celebrate the St. George’s day. Highlights include a fully costumed St George handing out flowers to the fair folk of Loughborough, the raising of the St George flag outside the Council Offices in Loughborough, sword and morris dancers and a traditional English lunch in the Town Hall.

Children from Mountfields Lodge Primary School will perform the Rapper Swords Dance outside Loughborough Town Hall at 12.20pm, which will be followed by a performance by Bare Bones Ladies Morris Dance Group at 12.45pm, also outside the town hall.

Throughout the day Queen’s Park Museum will tell the history of St George, there will be the usual bric-a-brac market in Loughborough town centre and goodie bags will be available from the Loughborough Echo stall on the market.

Holy Trinity Church in Barrow-upon-Soar will end the day with a traditional English meal, entertainment and patriotic songs from 7.30pm. Tickets cost £10 each and are available on 01509 412929.

A full schedule of the day is available below. If you have any further queries or suggestions for future celebrations, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Mayor’s Office on 01509 634781.

St. George’s Day medieval extravaganza at Tamworth Castle. Witness soldiers preparing for battle, lords and ladies going about their daily lives and servants keeping the household running. There’ll be demonstrations, living history and arts and crafts events to enjoy.
The Leicester St. George’s Festival celebrates the old and the new with a fun-filled weekend of activities and events. Celebrations start at Leicester Market on April 23, followed by the Family Festival on Saturday 24 at Orton Square and ending with the Annual Parade on Sunday 25.
Sileby shops will be encouraged to decorate their windows for the day ready for the judging at 11am and there will then be a traditional roast beef dinner at Loughborough Town Hall from 11.30am-2.30pm. The Mayor will make a toast to St George at noon.

Coalville Town Centre
Saturday 24th April 2010
10.30-2.30pm
St. George’s Day entertainment in Coalville Town Centre, including St. George and the Dragon, Morris Dancing, Children’s Mask Making, Leics Co-op Band, Medieval Knights and Grand Tournament.
Tel: 01530 454678

Ravenstone – St. George’s Day Medieval Fete Sun, 25 Apr 2010
Midday until 4pm on the Village Green, Leicester Rd., Ravenstone, Leics. (Opposite The Plough). Medieval fete and re-enactment, with St George and the dragon, rides, maypole dancing, archery, medieval bar, refreshments and stalls including crafts. Name and contact for more details: Liz Hornsby (Ravenstone Events Group) 01530 456066

Donington le Heath Manor House – St George’s Day Wedding 1651 – is being organised by local re-enactment group, the Society of the Open Rope, with support from other groups. Entrance to the event and parking is free.

On Saturday 26th April there will be a society wedding – but everything is not as it seems. Under cover of the celebrations a meeting of the lords of the midlands is being held to decide if they should support the return of the king. As at many weddings it ends in a fight – but few of these involve muskets and pikes – let alone cannons!

On Sunday 27th April it will be a more peaceful day with the tented encampments being used for living history displays and drill.
http://www.leics.gov.uk/donington

Do you know of any St. George’s Day celebrations? Add them to our list.

Sophie Snell, Derbyshire based storyteller

Lovers of the aural storytelling tradition are in for a real treat during this year’s Ashby Arts Festival when nationally acclaimed storyteller, Sophie Snell joins the Folk on the Farm production of Sleet, Shoots and Leaves.

Sophie, a professional storyteller from Derby, has a wide range of stories for both children and adults at her command. Her ghostly tales, often related amongst the creeping corners of desolate Abbeys and the shadowed crannies of crook beamed pubs are guaranteed to make even the staunchest sceptic shiver!

Sleet, Shoots and Leaves is a brand new show specifically written for the 2010 Ashby Art Festival. Based on Sue Kendrick and Lois Crofton’s poetry and photographic anthology, it features the stories, songs and poems of the National Forest. Set against a stunning back drop of a photographic, multimedia show depicting the wonderfully varied and moodily evocative landscape of the National Forest the show presents the small corner of the Forest around the town as never seen before!

Sleet, Shoots and Leaves is one of the premier Arts Festival events and takes place on Friday, 28th May, 7.30 p.m. at the Lyric Rooms, Ashby de la Zouch. Tickets are £6 available from Sue Kendrick
01530 223467