Object: Windmill Corn Dolly
Date: 1949
Category: Folklore
Museum Listing: CAMFK: 35.50
Price of Adoption: £12.50/month
Corn Dollies are hollow shapes created from the last sheaf of wheat or other cereal crops and used during harvest customs.
It was believed that the ‘corn mother’ spirit lived in the last sheaf of the crop but once they were cut, her spirit had nowhere to go so these shapes were made to embody her during the winter months. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in the home or church, kept safe and warm, and the Corn Dolly would then be ploughed into the first furrow of the next season in the hope that she would bring good fortune and fertility on the next crop.
This example of a Corn Dolly was made in 1949 by Mr G. Course for Meldreth Harvest Festival. As a boy, Mr Course was taught to make these straw ornaments by an old man in the village.