Corn Dollies

Karin’s inspiration for this collection is to put into art form the ancient custom of corn dollies.  Historically, it was customary at harvest time to leave a small portion of the grain in the field, often twisted or tied into the shape of a man or the symbol of a god or goddess.

Artist comments

Sometimes the dolly was dressed in men’s or women’s clothes and kept in a cradle or hung atop a pole.

This bundle or effigy even was believed to contain the essence of the spirit of the grains – a representation of the solar deity who would be burned and reborn as the spring grain.

At the end of the season, usually the winter solstice, the bundle would be ritually sacrified, burnt, or ploughed under to ensure the year’s crops.

In later times, corn dollies evolved into a household tradition, with elaborate symbolic figures crafted from straw.

They were hung over doors or in barns and burned at Christmas time.  Sometimes small grain dolls were kept in cradles or given ‘pride of place’ in the home through the winter. 
The least sheaf of the harvest, dressed in a woman’s dress or woven into an intricate shape and decked with ribbons is regarded as the embodiment of the spirit of the crop, the spirit of the growing grain itself.

The safe-keeping of the corn dolly over the winter ensures fertility for the following harvest, provided that some portion of it is given to cattle and horses to eat, other portions of it strewn in the field or mixed with the seeds for the next crop.

This practice of saving the spirit of the harvest is extensive throughout Europe.

In Northumberland, the corn dolly is attached to a long pole and carried home to be set up in the barn.  In some communities it goes home on the last load.  Sometimes it is fairly small.  In parts of Germany, the heavier it is, the better.

On the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, the corn dolly’s apron is filled with bread, cheese and a sickle.  In other parts of Scotland the reapers hold races.  The man who finishes reaping first designated his last sheaf the corn maiden; the one who finishes last makes his sheaf into a hag.

In some localities, the corn dolly is made by the first farmer who finishes his harvest and then passed from farm to farm as each farmer finishes his harvest, ending up with the farmer who finished last.  In this case, no one wants the dolly as it is a sign of procrastination.

In Wales, others try to snatch the dolly from the reaper who carries it from the field.  If he gets home safe, he gets to keep it on his farm for the rest of the year.

French, Slav and some Germanic regions use the last sheaf to create a Kornwolf, believes to hold a wolf-like spirit that resides in the last sheaf and provides the same life force for the next season.  This is a fiercer version of the corn dolly and is sometimes used to scare children.

Today, corn dollies are seen as emblems of abundance.