Plowman's Pottage
PLOUGH MONDAY
In days of yore Plough Monday heralded the end of the Christmas holidays, when farm labourers returned to the plough. The ploughmen went from door to door soliciting 'plough money' to spend in celebration. This is strange on two levels. 1. Why weren’t they working? 2. Why were they celebrating? But then again we shouldn’t begrudge them their fun as the ploughmen were considered hardworking but downtrodden peasants. Many villages had only one team of oxen and the ploughman worked the team on all the land. He was an essential part of the village. Anyway, the practice of blessing the plough by taking it inside the Church and leading it around a specially consecrated 'plough light' also took place on this day.
Ploughman’s Pottage was a soup like dish that could be left to simmer on the range until the weary ploughman made it home. Although it doesn’t sound very appetising, my Official Taster and I actually quite enjoyed it.