Mell Feast to Michaelmas
Maggie Black continues her seasonal history of food and popular culture with a look at this period of autumnal celebration at Harvest End.
The short spell between Harvest End and Michaelmas (September 29th) celebrates no great rituals of church or state, largely because it marked the time of greatest celebration and change in the countryman's year. Until the introduction of mechanical reaping, it ivas harder to draw men from the fields, either to fight or pray, during the harvest and just afterwards than at any other time.
The intensive work of bringing home the grain always had, as its climax, a carousing generous Harvest Supper or Mell Feast on each individual farm, throughout rural England. After it came the time for farmer and workman alike to take stock; to plan for ploughing and breeding; to fire and hire or to change employers. Depending on the quality of the harvest, these activities, too, culminated in local feasts and revels at the great Michaelmas stock and hiring fairs usually held at the beginning of October up and down the country.
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