Harvest of Apples and Hazelnuts

The Tenth Month and the Beginning of Autumn

Coll is Irish for hazel, and quert or cert is said to be metaphorical for apple.  In the tree-ogham series, coll stands for "c", being represented by four strokes to the other side of the trunk-line.  Quert or cert stands for "q", a letter not used in Irish, and is represented by five strokes to the other side of the trunk-line.  Coll is the ninth letter in the tree-ogham series.  Cert is the tenth letter in the tree-ogham series.  Their sounds are the same, and together they make nine of the same strokes.

The crab-apple and the domesticated apple tree both belong to the family of Rosaceae, the rose family.  The crab-apple and the domesticated apple tree also belong to the sub-family of Maloideae, genus Malus.    

Mistletoe likes to grow on all the trees of the Rose family, however mistletoe grows best on the trees of the sub-family of Maloideae, the Apple sub-family.  

All wild Roaceae have five petaled flowers and apples cut in half "the gypsy way" between the stem and the bottom display a five pointed star.  

Apples and Hazelnuts both ripen during, on, or around, the Gregorian month of August.  This is the time when the first major fruits become ripe.  Perhaps that is why the Festival of the First Fruits falls at the beginning of this month.  

Since apples were the perennial crops that once provided much of the starch in European diets, this autumn harvest was highly anticipated.  Apples keep very well in dark, cool and dry cellars, especially if packed in salt or straw.  And the addition of apples in little meat-pies make an absolutely delicious fare, much sweeter than potatoes.  

Before potatoes were brought to Europe from South America, circa 1550 C.E., potatoes were strictly South America cuisine, and potatoes did not exist in European diets.  This is why the name for potato in French is "apple of the earth".  

Even the wild crab-apple was an essential part of the old and ancient European diet.  They were gathered to make preserves and added with meat to make stews and pies.  Since there would be little greenery to be had in winter diets, crab-apples and other berries were stored in autumn.  Later, they would become a welcome part of the winter diet.  

But the cultivation of domesticated apples began long ago, and there are many more varieties of cooking apples than one might think.  Although North America supermarkets tend to not sell any baking apple, except for the "pippin", there are many other varieties that could be had.  In Europe there are many apples that are more starchy, known for their excellent qualities of taste and texture for baking and frying.  

In as much as the Apple/Hazel harvest represents the other fruits of this type of harvest, this is also the harvest time of other nuts and fruits that are wonderful for baking.  Pears make a delicious, aromatic and very fresh pie.  Hazels are excellent in baked goods.  Hazels become much more rich in flavor when baked into a cake, cookie, bread, or some such delicacy. 

Harvest of Grapes

The Eleventh Month and Middle of Autumn

Muin is said to be metaphorical for grapevine.  In the tree-ogham series, muin stands for "m", being represented by one stroke athwart the trunk-line.  Muin is the eleventh letter in the tree-ogham series.  

The grape harvest comes basically one moon after the apple and hazel harvest.  Of course the harvest timings vary from region to region, but what ever the region, the main apple harvest is always followed by the main grape harvest

There are many reasons to cultivate and harvest grapes, not the least of which is the making of wine, and the simple enjoyment of the fruit.  But there are other, very important reasons to cultivate this wonderful perennial flora.  

Grapes are also a prime source of sugar for cooking and brewing, even today, as they were long ago.  Raisins are a very storable food-source, a thing not lost on temperate pastoral people.  One of the most interesting things, however, is that raisins are a natural source of yeasts to start the alcohol brewing process, and the bread rising process.  Added to the initial ingredients, a small handful of grapes jump start these arts.  The yeast living on raisins begin propagating and bubbling in the sugars of the bread or brew.  Of course, it is easier to simply buy brewer's yeast, or bread yeast.  

The Hunt in the Grainfield

The Twelfth Month and the End of Autumn

Gort is said by some to be metaphorical for ivy, but gort is definitely an archaic word for a field, or standing corn in Scottish Gaelic, and gort is modern-Irish for cornfield.  In the tree-ogham series, gort stands for "g", being represented by two strokes athwart the trunk-line.  Gort is the twelfth letter in the tree-ogham series.  

It should be noted that the old word "corn" was used, and still is used by Europeans, the way that the word "grain" is used by North Americans.  In this way, corn signifies any grain that people use to make bread.  Barley was one of the first grains to be cultivated by ancient people.  

Again, the ogham "G" is called by "gort", and gort in Irish and in archaic Scottish Gaelic means "cornfield", that is, "grainfield".  Bolstering this, a little grainfield or croft, in Scottish Gaelic is goirtean.   In Irish goirtín means garden or little grainfield.  The English word garden derives from the word goirtín.  Actually, the ogham-series does specifically mentions cornfield as the meaning of gort, but this may have been missed due to the arcane way in which the metaphors were written.  

In interpretations of the ogham series, ivy is often mentioned as metaphorical for gort, though time and again, the word "ivy" is used in the ogham-series to allude to honeysuckle.  It is said, "...sweeter than grasses, that is gort, ivy [honeysuckle], g, with him owing the the identity of the name with the cornfield.  When it is in the blade, sweeter than any grass is that grass, to wit, the cornfield."  

Gort, then, can be seen to be Scottish Gaelic and Irish for a cornfield, in other words, a grainfield, which is sweeter than any other grass.  Judging by the way deer, goats, geese, pheasants, horses and cattle flock to a grainfield this must be so.  

Since I happened upon this pattern of seasonal harvests by looking at the ogham-series, looped and aligned by the more obviously temporally associated trees (like maythorn), continuity would seem to imply that the Grainfield Moon should come at the end of the year.  In other words, for everything to line up properly, one would have to assume the Grainfield Moon should be the 12th Moon, just before Samhain, and that it would end a 12 month year.  

This might be taken to imply a grain harvest in the season that corresponds with the Gregorian calendar month of October.  Since there seems to be a dearth of grain harvests in temperate climates at this time, except for the spring-sown wheat harvest in Russia, it seems unlikely that the Grainfield would be a symbol of this time of year.  

However, there is another answer.  The name of Grainfield Moon could be due to an ancient custom practiced by farmers.  Farmers go hunting in their harvested grainfields, during the very late autumn.  By the Gregorian calendar, october is the time when farmers go out hunting in their recently harvested grainfields.  I am reminded of another pastoral calendar, which calls one month the Bloodmoon.  The timing of Bloodmoon is very cognate with the temporal position of the Grainfield Moon.  

One of the things I have seen farmers do consistently is leave small "islands" of ripe-grain standing, during the harvest.  They leave them to provide feed and cover for foraging animals.  Geese, pheasants, and deer flock to the harvested fields, getting a chance to eat the grain which was knocked off and scattered in the harvesting process.  They also forage in the islands of grain that are left by farmers, and these uncut patches provide cover to sleep and hide.  When hunting time comes, the farmers take advantage of the extra food that the foraging animals provide.  Not only is it traditional for the farmers to hunt on their harvested fields, but the meat the wild game provides adds a much appreciated supplement to their groceries.  

Writing about barley, there is much I could say, and there are quite a few Pagan practices revolving around the grain.  There are very old customs regarding "John-Barleycorn", related in Sir James Frazier's old book, called "The Golden Bough".  He described many customs that used to be prevalent all over Europe, wherein pastoral people would make a human-sized effigy out of the last sheaf of barley cut from the field.  Some regard him as the embodiment of the sacrifice of the Harvest God, who gives his life for his people.  

Some people still make little corndollies today, smaller versions of John-Barleycorn.  Apparently, there are places in Europe where this is still done, even to this day, by pastoral people.  

There are many poems and hymns, and ancient customs regarding barley and the other grains.  I know of one very poignant Irish poem extolling the virtues of barley, and there are many others, both contemporary and ancient, in many different cultures of Europe.  John Barleycorn was and, in some ways, still is a very important part of Paganism