Editing Plough Monday (section)

==History==
[[File:WhittleseyPlough.jpg|thumb|A plough being pulled through the streets of [[Whittlesey]] as part of the Whittlesey Straw Bear Festival procession. Ploughs were traditionally taken around by Plough Monday mummers and molly dancers in parts of eastern England and in some places were used as a threat: if householders refused to donate to the participants their front path would be ploughed up.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2010/01/plough-monday-in-dorchester/|title=Plough Monday in Dorchester|author=Jo Draper|publisher=Dorset Life Magazine|accessdate=27 January 2014|date=January 2010}}</ref>]]

Plough Monday was celebrated on the first Monday after Twelfth Night, and marked the beginning of the ploughing season and the start of the agricultural year in England.<ref name=Hutton-124>{{cite book|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|title=The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=124}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Roud|first=Stephen|title=The English Year: A Month-by-Month Guide to the Nation's Customs and Festivals, from May Day to Mischief Night|year=2006|publisher=Penguin|page=19}}</ref> Customs associated with the beginning of the ploughing season are known from the medieval period – for example a plough race on 7 January was held at [[Carlton in Lindrick]] in Nottinghamshire in the late thirteenth century.  By the mid-fifteenth century, these celebrations were generally observed on Plough Monday.<ref name=Hutton-124/> 

In the fifteenth century, churches lit candles called "plough lights" to bless farmworkers. Some parishes kept a plough in the church for those who did not own one, and in some parishes, the plough was paraded around the village to raise money for the church. This practice seems to have died out after the [[Reformation]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Roud|first=Stephen|title=The English Year: A Month-by-Month Guide to the Nation's Customs and Festivals, from May Day to Mischief Night|year=2006|publisher=Penguin|page=20}}</ref>

While religious Plough Monday celebrations were suppressed, private observances continued. The most common custom involved dragging a plough and collecting money.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|title=The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=126–127}}</ref> The Plough Monday celebrants were known by a variety of regional names, including Plough Boys, Bullocks, Lads, Jacks, Stots, and Witches. The Plough Boys usually dressed in costume, often with one or more in female clothing.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|title=The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=127}}</ref>

Though mostly associated with the east of England, Plough Monday celebrations are also known elsewhere in the country, for instance in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Cornwall.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Needham|first=Joseph|title=The Geographical Distribution of English Ceremonial Dance Traditions|year=1936|journal=Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society|volume=3|issue=1|p=18|jstor=4521092}}</ref>  The customs observed on Plough Monday varied by region, but a common feature to a lesser or greater extent was for a [[plough]] (known variously as the "fond plough", "fool plough", "stot plough", or "white plough"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ridden |first1=Geoffrey |title=The Goathland Plough Monday Customs |journal=Folk Music Journal |date=1974 |volume=2 |issue=5 |page=353 |publisher=English Folk Dance and Song Society |location=London |issn=0531-9684}}</ref>) to be hauled from house to house in a procession, collecting money. They were often accompanied by musicians, an old woman or a boy dressed as an old woman, called the "Bessy," and a man in the role of the "[[Clown|fool]]." 'Plough Pudding' is a boiled suet pudding, containing meat and onions. It is from Norfolk and is eaten on Plough Monday.<ref name="hone" /> In Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and Rutland, a kind of [[Mummers' play]] called a Plough Play was performed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|title=The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=129}}</ref>