Home > Categories > Philosophy and Religion > Other Religious Beliefs and General Terms > Religion: General > harvest customs

harvest customs

From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008

harvest customs practices associated with the celebration of the gathering of agricultural crops. The gathering of the harvest—the climax of the year's labors wherever the soil is cultivated—has been celebrated from ancient times, by both primitive and civilized people, with merrymaking or with the performance of symbolic rites of a religious or magical significance. The corn mother, symbolizing the spirit of the grain, was a common figure of harvest time. Usually made of the last or the best sheaf cut, her image was carried in triumph from the field, drenched with water to invoke rain for the next season. Other harvest customs, such as the baking of a loaf in the figure of a child, suggest ancient sacrificial rites of harvest time. An important feature of ancient Greek religion was the worship of Demeter, the grain goddess, her daughter Kore (Persephone), and the god Dionysus. The Romans adopted this worship, identifying the Greek deities with their own indigenous crop deities, Ceres (from whom the word cereal derives), Libera, and Liber. Pagan rites associated with the harvest continued into Christian times, and such religious festivals as Corpus Christi, All Saints, and the Festival of Lughnasa in Ireland retain traces of the ancient customs. The Jewish feasts of Shavuot and Sukkoth are harvest festivals. In the United States the harvest season is annually celebrated on Thanksgiving Day.

Author not available, HARVEST CUSTOMS., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press

For permission to reuse this article, contact Copyright Clearance Center.

Related articles from HighBeam Research:

	Custom cutters becoming scarcer as harvest moves into Nebraska The Topeka Capital-Journal; 7/3/1999; ROXANA HEGEMAN; 746 words; ... hasn't been able to find a custom cutter to harvest his fields -- even when they do dry out ... dependence on custom cutters who follow the harvest from Texas to Canada." His plight is becoming ... Kiowa. It was here that the Kansas wheat harvest really began back in early June. But there ...
	Amenities bountiful in Harvest Glen's custom homes.(New Homes) Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL); 2/24/2007; Giewald, Sherry; 658 words; ... Nantucket-style model charms home shoppers at Harvest Glen, a new estate community in Cary with ... Three Oaks and Hickory Nut Grove roads, Harvest Glen will feature 94 custom homes on 1-ac ... with Cary-based Verseman Development. At Harvest Glen, Verseman has a handful of homes ...
	Higher fuel prices driving up costs for custom combiners as wheat harvest nears The Journal Record; 5/23/2000; Roxana Hegeman Associated Press; 809 words; ... Texas wheat field for the start of the 2000 harvest. For the next few months, he will follow the harvest northward as crops mature in Oklahoma ... this season, there will be fewer custom harvesters doing the work. No rain, scarce farm labor ...
	Customs & Excise harvests pounds 20m in black market raids.(News) The Birmingham Post (England); 3/12/1999; Williams, Philip; 435 words; A Customs & Excise team turning over stones ... dubious businesses including Operation Harvest, a crackdown on dozens of Midland fast ... fraud is passed on to the specialist Customs National Investigation Unit. But it has ... knew something was fishy and contacted Customs. Officers followed up the ...
	Custom operators see demand growing; Rising fuel costs can hurt farmers who are paid per acre to plant corn, make hay or harvest wheat Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque); 3/27/2005; JOHN SEEWER; 463 words; ... gets paid per acre to plant corn, make hay or harvest wheat. "It's kind of specializing the market ... Tim Baker, operations manager for U.S. Custom Harvesters. Most of those in the harvesters association are full-time operators who travel ...
	Custom Harvesters: Drought's Overlooked Victims; 2002 Harvest May Be the Last for Many Who Travel Around the Country With Their Costly Equipment The Washington Post; 8/18/2002; Roxana Hegeman; 494 words; ... by the drought that has devastated the harvest. "Usually if the drought or hail isn ... Hutchinson, Kan.-based trade group U.S. Custom Harvesters. "But not when it is as big and as widespread ... Around the country, about 500 custom harvesters make their living cutting wheat for farmers ...
	Minnesota family's custom combine operation harvests crops far and wide. Agweek (Grand Forks, ND); 6/19/2007; 2035 words; ... school, Olsen spent a fall doing custom harvest work. After a semester at South Dakota ... started custom planting, tillage and harvesting in his home area in 1992. In 1995, I ... Dickinson, N.D., who was retiring from custom harvesting. Hauck gave Olsen a list of his customers ...
	Custom crush winery to open for 2006 harvest.(Events) Wines & Vines; 4/1/2006; 36 words; Bin to Bottle Custom Crush Services will open a 310,000-gallon facility in southern Napa in time for the 2006 crush. Marco DiGiulio, Pat Roney, Mike McLoughlin and John Wilkinson are principals. For details, visit bintobottle.com.
	Profitability and Resource Allocation Among Cotton and Peanuts When Considering Planting and Harvest Timeliness Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics; 4/1/2005; Meeks, Timothy A; Flanders, Archie; Shurley, W Don; White, Fred C; Gunter, Lewell F; 4398 words; Harvest timeliness is a continual problem in the rotation of cotton and peanuts ... season. Of particular concern is efficient allocation during planting and harvesting. Through economic analysis and linear programming optimization, planting and harvesting timeliness issues are addressed and compared with ...
	A tribute to the Harvest Brigade: Massey Harris combines spearhead a unique wheat harvest during WWII. Implement & Tractor; 3/1/2005; Eilers, Denny; 922 words; ... created a lasting tribute to the famed Harvest Brigade that cut wheat for US military ... manager who created the idea for the Harvest Brigade back in the 1940s. Tucker had helped sell the harvesting idea to the War Department, at a time ...
	A huge harvest for the Central Coast. Wines & Vines; 4/1/2006; Walker, Larry; 1321 words; ... from the huge 2005 California winegrape harvest, it became clear that the Central Coast ... Barbara counties were up 57.3% over 2004 harvest figures--that is the largest percentage ... Turrentine pointed out that the 2005 harvest was a very different situation than the ...
	Wheat Cutters Ride Waves of Harvest; With Own Equipment, Nomads Cross Plains The Washington Post; 7/23/1989; Arthur S. Brisbane; 1415 words; ... through the ripe-yellow wheat, harvesting. Every year, it is like this. Duell ... the rest of the Frymire Custom Harvesting crew then journey to Kimball, Neb ... when summer wanes, Montana. "The harvest," offered Slagell, a laconic voice ...
	WINTER WHEAT HARVEST RESUMES IN STATE AFTER DELUGE The Journal Record; 6/21/1989; CHRISTOPHER EDSALL; 916 words; annual hard red winter wheat harvest resumed last weekend throughout Oklahoma. "The rains caused harvest delays of 10 days overall," said Dale ... northwestern Oklahoma. "Normally we would start harvesting between June 7 and June 10. This year ...
	China stalls on 'early harvest' pledge to Asean; Framework agreement on economic cooperation.(Business) Manila Bulletin; 7/15/2002; 465 words; ... backtracking from its early harvest commitment, a concept earlier ... ASEAN's definition of early harvest as a down payment from China ... interest to ASEAN. For an early harvest to be meaningful to ASEAN ... down the concept of early harvest for FTA, the document stated ... preparedness of China's ...
	Corn harvest hits high gear. Portales News-Tribune (Portales, NM); 9/7/2006; 538 words; ... the city-dweller's notion of a corn harvest involving picking the ears of corn ... specifically for silage. When they are harvested depends on many variables. Certain ... planted, and the weather, he said. Harvesting the silage also creates another economic ... of the dairy business with custom ...