Plough Monday

Plough Monday

January, first Monday after Epiphany

This ancient rustic English holiday, also called Fool Plough or Fond Plough, or Fond Pleeaf, survived into the late 1800s. It is thought to have started in the days of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, when farmers, or ploughmen, kept candles called plough-lights burning in churches before the images of saints.
Once a year, on the Monday after Epiphany (before ploughing begins), or sometimes at the end of Lent (to celebrate the end of ploughing), they gathered in villages to ask for money to pay for the plough-lights. The Reformation of the 16th century ended this homage to saints, but not the day's celebration as a time to return to labor after the Christmas festivities.
By the 19th century, the day was observed with music, dancing, processions, and collecting money through trick-or-treat type means. "The Bessy"—a man dressed up to look ridiculous in women's clothing—and "The Fool," wearing animal skins or a fur cap and tail, solicited money from door to door so they could buy food and drink for their merrymaking. The ploughmen dragged a beribboned plough from house to house, shouting "God speed the plough," and if a home owner failed to make a contribution, they ploughed up his front yard. The money collected was spent not on plough-lights but on ale in the public houses.
The custom of blessing the plough on the prior day, Plough Sunday, was still observed in some areas in the 20th century.

SOURCES:
BkDays-1864, vol. I, p. 94
DaysCustFaith-1957, p. 38
DictDays-1988, p. 90
DictFolkMyth-1984, pp. 138, 410
EncyChristmas-2003, p. 610
FestSaintDays-1915, p. 19
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 24
OxYear-1999, p. 601
RelHolCal-2004, p. 89
SaintFestCh-1904, p. 63