Hat Plait

Harvest maiden

One of the earliest English references to end of harvest celebrations was written by the German traveller Paul Hetzner. In 1597 he observed the following celebrations near Windsor, Royal Berkshire.

As we were returning to our Inn at Windsor, we happened to meet some people celebrating… their last load of corn they crown with flowers having besides an image richly dressed, by which perhaps they would signify Ceres.

Sometimes the harvest maiden was a decorated sheaf and at other times or in other places it could be a girl who sat on top of the harvest home wagon.

Other early references seem to indicate these customs associated with the harvest home were common around the country.

Ivy girl

The tradition of creating a figure to represent the goddess or spirit of the harvest is found in many forms and known by many names other than maiden. These include Kirn, also spelled Kern, Kurn or Kyrn and Ivy Girl which was made in Kent.

Accounts seem to indicate the Ivy Girl could be dressed in clothes or decorated with paper clothes.

Nek or Neck

Today this is most associated with Cornwall where an annual ceremony of Crying the Neck at the end of harvest is still held by the Old Cornwall Society. In previous centuries the end of harvest token was called a Neck, or nek, or kneck, or nack, knack or nick in many parts for the UK. The shape of the Neck can take many forms, from a simple handful of straws to an elaborately plaited or tied shape. The design most commonly associated with this name is a core of straw stems with a bunch of arranged heads at the bottom. Around this core straws are plaited using a spiral plait.

The neck shown was plaited from a modern wheat variety called Zyatt. The straw has short stems and a thick wall, but with care can be successfully used for spiral plaiting.

Mell doll

You will not be surprised to read that the design of harvest tokens called a Mell varied around the county. It could be a simple sheaf, the last one cut in the field, or the last sheaf could be decorated with flowers and wrapped in the reapers’ clothes. In Cumbria the mell doll was very different. Made from the last cut straw it was plaited to enclose a large apple. When complete it was hung in the farmhouse kitchen until Christmas Day when the straw was presented to the best cow and the apple to the oldest servant on the farm.