[Sca-cooks] Harvest times

[Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise]

> I'm working on a painted casket for my stuff and found an interesting early 
> 13th century cycle of 'Month pictures', but I'm wondering about their 
> provenance. The thing is, they place haying in June, grain harvest in July, 
> threshing in August, which seems a bit early for Northern Europe. The vintage 
> is in October, which tends to be a bit cold and wet for that. Now, I'm not an 
> expert on Europe's microclimates, but I'm sure there will be one here. So I'm 
> wondering: does that generally square with Southern France or Northern Italy? 
> Or is it more Central France/Southern Rhineland? I know it's wrong for my 
> latitudes. 

I'm no expert, but I've been plowing through Bridget Ann Henisch's _The
Medieval Calendar Year_, a study of exactly these sorts of calendar
labors. She points out that the labors of the months do seem to be
somewhat consistent across calendars from different parts of Europe. She
places haying in June or July, grain harvest in July or August,
Threshing at the same time or after. Picking grapes is usually shown in
September, and vintining in October. Lammas (Loaf-mass) in England
celebrated the first loaf of bread from the new harvest, which gives you 
a sort of date...

Another important point to remember is that the 'labors of the months' 
were usually tied up with the Zodiac sign also. As you know, the Zodiac 
sign changes around the 20th of the month. So you may want to look for 
clues as to whether you are dealing with Gemini or Cancer when the 
haying begins, etc. 

-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 
"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on 
imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." 
	-- Harry S. Truman