“Peter and Paul (as we know) in summer / Come together in the calendar”

July is the month of harvest. Traditionally, however, its beginning was linked to June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Hungarian traditions hold that on this day “the root of the wheat breaks,” which is why the harvest could begin. How Peter and Paul are connected to harvesting, and what customs surrounded the most important agricultural work of the season, is the focus of our latest selection.

Peter and Paul

The Apostle Peter – originally Simon – was the first bishop of Rome; according to Catholic tradition, Jesus entrusted him with the keys to Heaven. The Apostle Paul was one of the most significant figures of early Christianity, playing a major role in spreading the Catholic faith. Their feast day is on June 29 because tradition holds that both were executed in Rome on that date. Peter was crucified – at his own request upside down, as he did not consider himself worthy to die in the same manner as his Master – while Paul was beheaded. He is the one who transformed from Saul into Paul after his famous conversion on the road to Damascus. As a Roman citizen, Paul was granted this “honorable” form of execution.

Customs and Beliefs

The harvesting of bread grain was accompanied by many customs and beliefs. Even if the wheat was not fully ripe by June 29, farmers often made a few symbolic scythe cuts, thus ritually beginning the harvest. Harvesting was a task that truly tested people’s strength; since wheat was essential for the family’s livelihood, they worked hard to bring in the crop quickly, fearing that a heavy rainfall might ruin the yield of the entire year.

On larger estates, hired harvest workers were usually employed. Traditionally, women cut the grain while men tied the sheaves, but with the spread of scythe harvesting, women followed the mowing men as “sheaf gatherers.” Interestingly, large estates sometimes employed 50–60 scythe-men in one season, along with their gatherers. Typically, each worker was assigned one hold (about 0.6 hectare) of wheat to harvest, which meant 12–15 hours of exhausting labor.

What customs were associated with this work? Regardless of the group’s size, it was customary everywhere to sing harvest songs. Where a harvest festival was also held, harvesters usually arrived singing.

Scattered records suggest that the first sheaf was considered especially important, with particular attention to its supposed disease-warding properties. The first cut stalks were fed to poultry for health and fertility magic. But not only the first sheaf – the last one also carried various beliefs and customs. From the last sheaf, harvesters would make the harvest wreath. Typically, this was presented to the landowner, but each person also took home a small bundle of the last ears of grain, mixing them with the autumn seed grain, often with symbolic explanations. In Göcsej, harvesters tied a small sheaf which the host “redeemed” with a celebratory drink; the next day it was fed to the chickens so they would lay well.

Harvest time was also connected with courtship and marriage-related beliefs. In the Csallóköz region, a tradition linked to the feast of Peter and Paul said that whichever young man or woman first heard the church bells ringing on that day would be married by the end of the year.

TÉ

translated by LG

Sources:

Iván Balassa – Gyula Ortutay: Hungarian Ethnography

Mihály Hoppál (ed.): Hungarian Ethnography VII – Folk Customs, Folk Beliefs, Popular Religiosity

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