Make the most of September

August and September are harvesting times, with plenty of popular festivities and ceremonies. Harvesting varies from year to year, county to county and region and while such customs as Crying the Neck, corn dollies and the Harvest Home feast still survive it is lesser known that Harvest time is also when humans and faeries go to and fro between each other's worlds.

One such incident, recorded not too far away recalls the day that William Noy set off for a  Harvest Home drink at the inn on the other side of Selena Moor in Cornwall. Rather than going the long way round, William ambled across the moor even though dusk was giving way to darkness and soon got lost. After what seemed like hours of getting nowhere and just as he was about to find some hollow ground to spend the night in he saw some lights, heard voices, and thanked his guardian angel that his ordeal was ending.  More wrong he could not have been.

Inadvertently he had wandered into the moorland area where the faeries' were holding their own grand version of Harvest Home celebrations. It was the most lavish meal that William had ever seen and just as he was about to gate-crash the celebrations and join the party, a woman stepped before him and pushed him out of the warming light and back into the gloom. Stumbling back, he was shocked to see that the woman was a former love of his, Gracie Allen who had mysteriously disappeared many years ago when he had been expecting to meet her. In the moonlight, Grace explained that on her way to meet him she had got lost on the moor and found herself in an orchard that she had never know existed. She plucked a plum from a tree to stem her hunger and as she took one bite of the plum she was surrounded by faeries who had made her their slave.

William, having come out for a drink was hardly prepared to become rescuer to a damsel in distress, and all he had on him were a few coins tucked deep in his pocket beneath a pair of thick hedging gloves. But being a canny moorland lad he knew that turning clothes inside out could confuse faeries. He pulled the gloves from his pocket, rushed past his lost love and into the light as he reversed them, and threw them on to the faeries' dining table. The lights went out, as the faeries fell upon him. Beneath their blows he sank to the ground. When he awoke on the moor, a week later, there was no sign of the faeries festivities, nor of Grace. He dragged himself home, distraught, and from that day on he abandoned his friends, company, society, his work and became a recluse. William never saw Gracie Allen again and many will confirm that his voice is still heard on Selena Moor, challenging the faeries to confront him again but it is only heard by those unwary enough to wander there during September but lucky enough to run from the sound.

September is the time for major fairs across the country, and many will be celebrating food. The Oyster fair of Colchester, ham and plum pudding at Oxford, Whitebait at Southend-on-Sea, the pie at Denby Dale, cakes and ale at Eccles and cheese fairs in the Cotswolds; among many more, that takes care of the first week.

Then there’s the hops and cheese that are celebrated at Worcester’s Great Fair, the fine foods and flowing cider of this county found at Widecombe fair and for those that might survive a fair to fair route through Cornwall, making sure to celebrate the harvest each night, the Fairy Gump hill at St Just is reputed to be a favoured place for parties. Those participating however are said to be no more than six inches tall and their celebrations are guarded by an army of Spriggans, fierce, wiry creatures of another world.
 
It might be as well to consider the weather forecast before starting off.

A fine 1st makes for a fine spell thought the month ahead.

Thunder in September points to a good harvest; and any accompanying downpour is also good news for some: 'September rain is much liked by the farmer.' And you’ll be surprised how many agree with this still.

The weather on the 20th, 21st and 22nd supposedly indicates the weather outlook for the next three months respectively – these are the days for checking whether or not they are cold enough to foretell a white Christmas.

Those making a hurried departure from a party for any reason should remember that on the last Wednesday in September, Frome in Somerset has its Cheese Show, presided over by the Frome District Agricultural society. Setting it apart from other such gatherings, the competing cheeses are ceremonially rolled down to the river and given a good washing. The show began only in 1877, originated in the old Frome Fair of the 13th century. When farmhouse cheese-making was a nation wide industry the show attracted around 500 different types of cheese. Entries are lower these days but with cheese-making beginning to re-emerge as farming diversity holds sway there is every chance that the numbers will now increase again year by year.

Celebrate the month in style and you’ll not go hungry nor dance alone.

© Roy & Ursula Radford