Fall Festivals

 

 

Now the wild geese are going over,

Clanking their chains on the windless sky,

Over the cornfields, over the clover,

Shouting their wild exuberant cry:

“Come with us, come with us--come.”

 

They are calling,

And I, with no answer shaped in my mouth,

Stand where the painted leaves are falling,

Watching them disappear in the south,

 

Disappear from my sight and hearing,

Going to who knows what far land,

Straight as an arrow, and not fearing

The journey ahead…

 

I lift my hand

Bidding them to stay their avid going

Across the wide and uncharted track,

Calling to them, and yet well knowing

That only the spring will bring them back.

 

This poem, “Autumn Flight” by Grace Noll Coward, could well have been written from the Ontario, Canada town of Kingsville.  Located on Lake Ontario, just southwest of Windsor, it is the site of Jack Miner’s Bird Sanctuary, abd for decades it has been welcoming the migrating Canada goose as they head for warmer climes.  The Migration Festival at the sanctuary happens around mid-October, depending upon the arrival time of the geese, which depends upon the weather.

 

Just a few miles further east of Kingsville, at Point Pelee, butterfly watchers gather in October to see the migrating monarch butterflies.  This event may soon be a thing of the past, however, as the monarchs have so diminished in numbers that they have become an endangered species.

 

Until a few hundred years ago most people had only the food they produced for themselves.  It is no surprise then, that the harvest was so important, and that when the grain had been harvested, the hay stored in the barns and the fruits and vegetables canned or stored in cold cellars, it was time to have the harvest festival.

 

When the last sheaf was picked up and hoisted high and the h\”harvest shout” was raised.

 

Well ploughed!

Well sowed!

Well harrowed!

Well mowed!

And all safely carted to the barn

With never a load throwed!

Hip, hip, hooray!

 

Although machinery such as combine harvesters have taken over much of the work it is still the custom to get together for a harvest festival or fall fair to sample what has been produced.

 

In western Canada, “Threshermen’s Days” are popular harvest time festivals, with importance placed on contests of farming skills such as grain threshing.

 

The Welland Canal, linking Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, flows between vineyards thick with grapes.  To climax the harvest, the city of St. Catharines, Ontario welcomes visitors to the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival.  This year the festival was held – September 21 thru September 30^th.

 

Another festival of a different type takes place in Kleinburg, Ontario.  The Binder Twine Festival began in 1891, the result of an interesting problem.  Farmers in the area used binder twine to tie together their sheaves of grain.  Local tinsmith Charlie Shaw was the supplier of the twine, but a problem had developed.  For some reason mice liked to eat the twine.  So that the farmers could get “uneaten” twine, Charlie asked that all of the farmers come to town to collect the twine shipment on the day it arrived by train.  For saome of the farmers it became a time to visit with friends and neighbours, and soon it became an annual social gathering.  When Mr Shaw died in the a930s the event ended.  However, it was revived in 1967 as a Centennial project and it has been a popular festival each year since then. 

 

Occurring on the first Saturday after Labour Day, this exciting festival features juried craft exhibitors, great food and entertainment. It is organized and run entirely by over 800 volunteers from the community. Its success has resulted in benefits to the community, such as Binder Twine Park, support for local schools and clubs, new street signage, Kleinburg New Forest, and much more! There is a very special spirit of cooperation and celebration – “a community brought together with a common goal”.

 

An exciting day filled with unique crafts, great entertainment, Olde Tyme activities and great food awaits the entire family. The entire site is wheelchair accessible. For many, the highlight of the day is a unique Queen Contest where eligible “young ladies” (age 16 to eternity) call a hog, flip pancakes, hammer nails, and even milk a cow! The first official duty of the newly crowned Binder Twine Queen is to draw the winning ticket for the festival’s Quilt Raffle.

 

Gates open at 9 a.m. Admission prices are $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and teenagers, and $2 for children aged 2 to 12. However, if you come dressed in pioneer costume in keeping with the spirit of the festival, admission is free!

 

People who live by the sea enjoy a harvest of a different type.  The fishing season, which usually ends in October, provides us with an abundance of various types of fish and delicies such as lobster, shrimp, and scallops.  In many places such as Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, there is a Fisheries Exhibition and Reunion.  At Christian harvest festivals at church in fishing ports, freshly caught fish and fish nets are often displayed with flowers, fruit and vegetables.  A favourite hymn for this time of year is the Manx Fisherman’s Hymn:

 

Hear us, O Lord, from Heaven Thy dwelling place:
Like them of old, in vain we toil all night,
Unless with us Thou go, who art the Light,
Come then, O Lord, that we may see Thy face.

Thou, Lord, doest rule the raging of the sea,
When loud the storm and furious is the gale:
Strong is Thine arm; our little barques are frail:
Send us Thy help; remember Galilee.

 

Our wives and children we commend to Thee:
For them we plough the land and plough the deep;
For them by day the golden corn we reap,
By night the silver harvest of the sea.

 

We thank Thee, Lord, for sunshine, dew and rain,
Broadcast from heaven by Thine almighty hand—
Source of all life, unnumbered as the sand—
Bird, beast, and fish, herb, fruit and golden grain.

 

O Bread of Life, Thou in Thy Word hast said,
Who feeds in faith on Me shall never die!
In mercy hear Thy hungry children’s cry—
Father, give us this day our daily bread!

 

Sow in our hearts the seeds of Thy dear love,
That we may reap contentment, joy, and peace;
And when at last our earthly labors cease,
Grant us to join Thy harvest home above.

 

Words: Will­iam H. Gill (1839-1923); vers­es 1-4 ap­peared in the Manx Song Book, 1896; Gill wrote vers­es 5-6 for the 1904 Meth­od­ist Hymn­al.

 

Canada boasts a variety of apple types, most of which are ripe in autumn.  In many areas from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, Apple Festivals are annual fall events.  Apple butter, apple fritters, apple syrup and good old fashioned apple pie are just some of the ways to enjoy this delicious fruit.

 

In Mennonite communities it is still the practice to hold schnitzing bees, where families and friends get together to peel, core and slice the apples to “schnitz,” or make dried apple rings.

 

Festivals of thanks for a bountiful harvest are probably as old as farming itself.  Here in North America it is generally thought that the original Thanksgiving Day dates back to 1621 in Plymouth Colony, where the Pilgrims joined with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag tribe, and about ninety of his tribesmen in a three-day feast.  In fact, fifty-three years before the Pilgrim’s celebration, Sir Martin Frobisher and the English settlers in the area held a harvest celebration of thanksgiving in what is now Newfoundland.

 

For flowers that bloom about our feet;

For tender grass so fresh and sweet;

For song of bird and hum of bee;

For all things fair we hear and see,

Father in Heaven we thank Thee.

 

………… Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Hartson S. Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net