Corn dolly

For the UK band, see The Corn Dollies.

Cambridgeshire handbells in wheat straw

Corn dollies are a form of straw work made for, and associated with, harvest customs of Europe before mechanisation.

Before Christianization, in traditional pagan European culture it was believed that the spirit of the "corn" (in modern American English, "corn" would be "grain") lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless. J.G. Frazer devotes chapters in The Golden Bough to "Corn-Mother and Corn-Maiden in Northern Europe" (chs. 45-48) and adduces European folkloric examples collected in great abundance by W. Mannhardt. Among the customs attached to the last sheaf of the harvest, hollow shapes were fashioned from the last sheaf of wheat or other cereal crops. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in their homes until the "corn dolly" was ploughed into the first furrow of the new season. "Dolly" may be a corruption of "idol" or simply the diminutive of Dorothy applied to any doll-like object.

Background

James George Frazer discusses the Corn-mother and the Corn-maiden in Northern Europe, and the harvest rituals that were being practised at the beginning of the 20th century:

"In the neighbourhood of Danzig the person who cuts the last ears of corn makes them into a doll, which is called the Corn-mother or the Old Woman and is brought home on the last waggon. In some parts of Holstein the last sheaf is dressed in women's clothes and called the Corn-mother. It is carried home on the last waggon, and then thoroughly drenched with water. The drenching with water is doubtless a rain-charm. In the district of Bruck in Styria the last sheaf, called the Corn-mother, is made up into the shape of a woman by the oldest married woman in the village, of an age from 50 to 55 years. The finest ears are plucked out of it and made into a wreath, which, twined with flowers, is carried on her head by the prettiest girl of the village to the farmer or squire, while the Corn-mother is laid down in the barn to keep off the mice. In other villages of the same district the Corn-mother, at the close of harvest, is carried by two lads at the top of a pole. They march behind the girl who wears the wreath to the squire's house, and while he receives the wreath and hangs it up in the hall, the Corn-mother is placed on the top of a pile of wood, where she is the centre of the harvest supper and dance."
—The Golden Bough, chapter 45

Many more customs are instanced by Frazer (see link).

Vetula

"In East Prussia, at the rye or wheat harvest, the reapers call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf, “You are getting the Old Grandmother....In Scotland, when the last corn was cut after Hallowmas, the female figure made out of it was sometimes called the Carlin or Carline, that is, the Old Woman."The name the "Old Woman" (Latin vetula) for such "corn dolls" was in use among the Germanic pagans of Flanders in the 7th century, where Saint Eligius had to warn them to desist from their old practices:"[Do not] make vetulas, (little figures of the Old Woman), little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare Puck] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [a Yule custom]."

Materials used

• Great Britain: mainly wheat, oats, rye and barley
• Ireland: rush
• Southern France: palm leaves

With the advent of the combine harvester, the old-fashioned, long-stemmed and hollow-stemmed wheat varieties were replaced with knee-high, pithy varieties. However, a number of English farmers are still growing the traditional varieties, mainly because they are in great demand in thatching, a craft which is enjoying a renaissance.

Types

Corn Dollies and other similar harvest straw work can be divided into these groups:

Traditional corn dollies named after counties of England

• 
  Barton Turf dolly, Norfolk
• 
  Cambridgeshire Handbell
• 
  Essex Terret
• 
  Hereford Lantern
• 
  Staffordshire Knot
• 
  Suffolk Horseshoe
• 
  Yorkshire Spiral

• Other corn dollies include Anglesey Rattle, Cambridgeshire Umbrella, Durham Chandelier, Claidheach (Scotland) Herefordshire Fan, Kincardine Maiden (Scotland), Leominster Maer (Herefordshire), Norfolk Lantern, Northamptonshire Horns, Okehampton Mare, Oxford Crown, Suffolk Bell, Suffolk Horseshoe and Whip, Teme Valley Crown (Shropshire), Welsh Border Fan, Welsh Long Fan, Worcester Crown.
• There are also corn dolly design from other countries, for example the Kusa Dasi from Turkey, named after the town of Kuşa Dası.

Countryman's favours and other harvest designs

• 
  Countryman's Favour in barley
• 
  Glory Braid
• 
  Cornucopia (Horn of plenty)
• 
  Corn Maiden
• 
  Harvest Cross
• 
  Corn maiden
• 
  Countryman's Favours

Other examples include:

• Bride of the Corn (called "Aruseh" in North Africa)
• Devonshire Cross, a harvest cross from Topsham, Devon
• Dedham Cross
• St Brigid's Cross; the National Museum of Ireland has many examples of harvest crosses.

Fringes

• Larnaca Fringe
• Montenegrin Fringe
• Lancashire Fringe

Large straw figures

A Swedish Christmas goat.

These are representations of deities, made from an entire sheaf. They are known by a variety of names, depending on location and also the time of harvesting:

• The Goddess Ceres
• Maiden or Bride (harvest before All Saints):
• Kirn Dolly (Roxburghshire)
• Kirn Baby (Lothians)
• Hare (Galloway)
• Lame Goat, Gaelic: gobar bacah (Harris, Skye, Glenelg)
• Straw dog - strae bikko (Shetland, Orkney)
• Cailleach or cailleagh - corn mother or Auld Mother (harvest after All Saints)
• Whittlesey Straw Bear, the centre of a ceremony in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, every January. Its origins are obscure.

Tied straw work

Here the straw is not plaited, but tied with yarn, wool, or similar. This type of straw work is particularly popular in Scandinavia and German-speaking countries. Examples of these are the Oro (Swedish Straw Crown); the Tömte or Nisse (Yule dwarfs); and smaller versions of the Yule Goat.

• 
  Tied straw work
• 
  Swedish Dwarves
• 
  Reindeer garland
• 
  Large tied star

Rick finials

• These are straw sculptures which are placed on the rick of the thatched roof. They are sometimes purely for decoration, but can be the signature of a particular thatcher. Animal shapes (birds, foxes etc.) are the most common.

See also

• Cereal
• Crying The Neck
• Grain
• Harvest Festival
• John Barleycorn
• Straw Plait
• Straw manufacture
• Yule goat

External links

• Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, chapter 45
• Wheatweaving Company online instructions
• Neil Thwaites Yorkshire corn dolly crafter
• The Guild of Straw Craftsmen UK association for all aspects of straw craft
• Corn Craft Suffolk supplier of corn dolly crafting materials