photo : Echo McNeill
As autumn draws in people across the globe give thanks for the good things that have come their way through the year – from friends to food and corn to queens. Celebrations and suppers to mark the end of the harvesting of crops, are particularly widespread.
Erntedank
The Austrian word for the celebration of the harvest, is Erntedank. Like the Harvest Festivals of Great Britain and many countries across the world, Erntedank is rooted in a religious history. Since pagan times (pre-Christianity) there have been customs and traditions associated with bringing in the harvest, including:
- preparation of special foods from the produce,
- parades
- and making offerings to the Gods.
Entredank in Austria is celebrated by church services and highly colourful parades. These traditions developed mainly in rural communities, where more than the crops were to be celebrated. For people who lived and worked on the land, harvesting also heralded freedom from the necessity to work in the fields. So it was the start of a period when some rest and relaxation from the toil of tending the land could be enjoyed.
They still had to look after their animals and homes, but that’s another matter!
Full Moon and the Autumn Equinox
Harvesting begins on or around the beginning of August. In ancient times, celebration of the crops also started then. In more modern times – since the 1800s – it has become customary to hold a festival of food at the end of the harvesting period. The Feast of St Michael on the 29th of September is – in many countries – the date of the harvest supper, which was held to mark the end of the harvesting period. A kind of reward for the help of all the villagers who brought in the crops.
Michaelmas – St Michael’s Day – recognises the role of the Archangel Michael in the battle with Lucifer in heaven. There were several Archangels – the exact number varies depending on the religion followed. In Catholicism, the good angels were Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Although Lucifer was originally one of the good guys, he thought of himself as being above the others (and he was especially jealous of Jesus) so became persona non gratis at God’s right hand. And you know where he ended up!
It just so happens that this is also the time of the autumn equinox, when the earth is neither tilted towards nor away from the sun. Day and night have equal length. And to top it off, there’s always a full moon – commonly referred to as the Harvest Moon – a big, yellow orb that seems set low in the sky. It sometimes even looks as though it’s got a kindly face beaming down on the harvest revellers – or maybe that’s just my imagination 
The Corn Dolly Queen
An important part of the Erntedank parade is the corn crown. Originally this was the last large sheaf of corn from the harvest tied and decorated with ribbons, carried high for all to see. Over time this developed into a crown of corn.
The crown consists of 4 – or sometimes 6 – top ears of corn bound together with flowers and ribbons, which are usually in national colours. The size of the crown depends on how or where it is to be displayed. If carried by hand it is smaller than one designed to decorate a truck!
As well as making corn crowns, corn dollies are also modelled. The ancient belief was that the spirit of the fields responsible for bringing good yields of crops would be left homeless when harvesting was complete. So the last sheaf cut was used to make a corn dolly to house the spirit until it could be furrowed back into the field in the spring.
Corn dollies come in all shapes and sizes – and sometimes even look like a lady. In Bruck an der Mur in Styria for example, the last sheaf is used to make a female figure based on a woman of around 50 – 55 years old. It is made by the oldest woman in the village. The finest ears of corn are used to make a wreath or crown for the prettiest girl in the village. This doesn’t seem fair to me and I would stress that it has absolutely nothing to do with my age!
But it gets worse. After the parade, the corn dolly figure is put out in the barn for the winter to scare off the mice. That really is not very kind at all.
Elsewhere in the province however (like Stadl an der Mur), a more appropriate appreciation of the corn dolly figure is observed. She is carried aloft by the young men of the village and taken to be the centre of attention at the Harvest Supper. She is the corn dolly queen.
I know where I would prefer to go this autumn!
And here’s an interesting observation from Peter, the Manager of Chalet Lowonahill:
Dear Linda,
you are right, nearly in each village there is a small parade up or along to the church with a crown of corn and I don’t know from where the corn comes, cause here is only grass for the cows growing!
To book your trip to the St Michael’s Day Parade and harvest supper, contact me now and your corn dolly queen can stay in her own palace at Stadl an der Mur, Styria.
