Plough Monday

Plough Monday, from George Walker's The Costume of Yorkshire, 1814

Plough Monday is the traditional start of the English agricultural year. It is the first Monday after Epiphany, 6 January.[1][2] References to Plough Monday date back to the late 15th century.[2] The day before Plough Monday is Plough Sunday, on which a ploughshare is brought into the local Christian church with prayers for the blessing of human labour, tools, as well as the land.[3][4]

  1. ^ Hone, William (1826). The Every-Day Book. London: Hunt and Clarke. p. 71.
  2. ^ a b "Plough Monday". Oxford English Dictionary (online edition, subscription required). Retrieved 1 December 2006.
  3. ^ "After Epiphany, the Twelfth Night of Christmas". St. Andrew Lutheran Church. 9 January 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2023. Sunday celebrations usually involved bringing a ploughshare into a church with prayers for the blessing of the land.
  4. ^ Nicholls, Janet (2006). "Plough Sunday" (PDF). Diocese of Chelmsford. Retrieved 4 June 2023.

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