SHORT HISTORY

Corn dollies date back to pagan times. Straw symbols, such as corn dollies or the harvest maid have always been associated with the gathering in of the crops. They were made in the field from the last sheaf, and many different designs came about from various areas.

 

In the early part of the 19thC, English farmers in rural areas were carrying out ceremonies of which the original meaning was completely lost. Eg: the worship of the goddess of the corn.

 

The art of making the corn dolly was handed down from father to son, and the whole ceremony ended with the triumphant return of the last load with the corn dolly held in the arms of the prettiest girl in the village. It was then hung up in the farmhouse until the following year. There are many variations of this story.

 

Corn dollies made from wheat, is what the peoples of the British Isles call “corn”, it has deep pagan symbolic roots.