Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 3: Plough Sunday

On this day, celebrated primarily in England, a plowshare is brought into church, and blessings are given to farmers and farm workers prior to the start of the new growing season. Typically, no work was done in the field until the day after, known as Plough Monday (which doesn't appear to have any religious connections other than coming the day after Plough Sunday). 

Plough Sunday occurs on the Sunday after Epiphany, so in early to mid-January, which seems really early to go back into the fields, though I suppose English winters aren't quite so cold or snowy as New England winters. I did read one article that linked the day to the end of the Christmas season and getting back to work generally, so maybe more work in the barn than the actual fields.

Modern celebrations often include farmers driving their tractors to the church for a blessing. There are also special prayers for soil and seed (or both together, as seen in this service bulletin). 

I'd never heard of this day, but I suppose that's not surprising as I'm not English, a farmer, or Protestant.