Harvests can take many forms. Although for me they still bring back memories of watching people riding on the back of hay carts stacked with bales of hay, a harvest can be more personal: the harvest of long study can be passing an exam, the harvest of sickness can be recovery.... Just because we personally don't get to drink cider as we work in the fields doesn't mean we don't have a harvest - we do.

Years ago the success of the local harvest literally meant the different between life and death and many rituals and celebrations developed to try and magically ensure that the harvest was a good one.

For many Pagans the year has three harvest festivals: 1st August, 21st September and the 31st October. These take account of the different types of food to be gathered, since there is no single date when ALL the crops and harvests will be ready at the same time.

One of the most interesting traditions is the corn dolly which was either made from the last sheaf of the harvest, or the sheaf itself. Around the UK it had a number of different names, including the Hag, the Mare, the Harvest Queen, Corn Dolly, and even Mell Doll.The important thing, I think, is that these were all female - perhaps a forgotten reference to a pagan mother goddess.

If you read Frazer's 'Golden Bough' you will see that this could be a very bloodthirsty ritual in some parts of the world, with a human being sacrificed so that his blood enriched and empower the next year's crops.

In the UK as far as we know, the sheaf (or doll) was decorated with flowers and ribbons and taken back to the farm on a waggon (in Anglo Saxon magic 'following a wagon' was often associated with fertility rites.) The Corn Dolly was then kept safe (usually for a year) but was ritually burned before the next harvest and its ashes ploughed back into the soil as an offering (possibly a symbolic re-enactment of a human sacrifice?).

It's just a beautiful time of year. I think we all deserve our own harvest festival, don't you? :D