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Traditional Crafts
Harvest Knots/Corn Dollies

    Corn dollies made from wheat are what people of the British Isles call corn have deep pagan symbolic roots.

    The harvest knot for men has no seeds but the woman’s knot has them intact - its about fertility and the wonder of the harvest and thanksgiving. Perhaps the best known corn sculpture is the old hag or cailleach which is constructed from the last sheaf to be harvested.

    It is blessed and carried by the lucky person who harvested it fore it is said to give them good luck.

    Through time much of the pagan meanings have been forgotten, yet, the designs and the activity of plaiting persisted.

    Today harvest knots are made into jewelry - beautiful gifts for friends. And the designs and the craft - the very activity itself is timeless and continues to delight the crafter as much as the observer.

    Plaiting begins with a simple pattern known as the two plait which is also known as cat stairs. From completed two plaits one can braid ever more complex harvest knots and corn dollies of all sorts. Then with the concept mastered it is with a little practice that you will move on to the more complex plaits and designs.

    You can do plaiting everywhere - the materials are all around you growing wild in nature or as simply found as a scrap of paper.

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