The Harvest Bannock
Once harvested, it was common for the meal from
the last sheaf to be used in a bannock - a tradition that lasted
in the small island of Gairsay until the 1920s.
On Gairsay, the harvest bannock and the "last
man" traditions seem to have merged. As a result the man who
brought in the final load was seized by his colleagues and held
while his bared buttocks were scoured with the rough end of a sheaf.
At the same time a bannock was brought out from the farmhouse and
the man was forcefully grabbed and marched twenty-five paces away
from his co-workers.
The master of the farm would then hand the man
the bannock and tell him to run. As soon as the order was issued,
his co-workers launched themselves at the hapless bannock-holder,
who had to run to escape their clutches.
If he was fortunate and managed to get away from
the crowd, he was permitted to sit down and eat the bannock, but
if caught the bannock was wrenched from his grasp and devoured by
the triumphant pursuers.
A variation of the Gairsay pursuit took place
in Westray. In this
case the "last man" was the man who brought in the final
load. Upon arriving in the stackyard he had to run to the highest
stack and climb to the top while his workmates tried to catch him
and prevent his successful ascent.
As in the Gairsay tradition, if caught, the Westray
man's buttocks were bared but in this case smeared with treacle
or molasses. If, on the other hand, he managed to evade capture,
he was presented with a harvest bannock and sometimes a bottle of
ale.
Not only was the last sheaf used to prepare a
human meal - in addition to the bannock, the last sheaf was sometimes
given to prized livestock - usually the best of the farmer's beasts.
Here, once again, we can see the idea that the
vitality of the crop spirit passed into the consumer of the last
sheaf.
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