Happy Plough Monday!
Plough Monday, which happens to be the first day of our spring semester, is celebrated in some of the northern and eastern parts of England and dates back to the fifteenth century. Plough Monday is the first Monday after Epiphany; Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 6th, marks the end of the Christmas season, so Plough Monday marks the return to work after the festivities are over—just as you are now returning to class after the holidays.
The celebration of Plough Monday involved pulling a decorated plough through the streets and asking for money, and anyone who failed to contribute might find a furrow cut through his doorstep! The collected money was then used either to maintain a “plough light” in the local church or to hold a feast.
One alternate version of the Plough Monday celebration, still in use today, is found in Whittlesey, in Cambridgeshire. There, instead of hauling a decorated plough, boys dress as “straw bears” with heavy coats and hats made of straw. Formerly, they went door to door to ask for money, but now they appear in a big parade.
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