Holiday's over – back to the ploughing
THE Claro Sword and Morris Men crossed swords for the 30th year running to mark Plough Sunday at St John's Church, Knaresborough.
The Harrogate-based group performed at the annual service, held to mark the celebration of the beginning of the agricultural year and dating back to medieval times.
It was a key date in the traditional Anglican calendar as the first Sunday after Epiphany – meaning the day the Wise Men arrived to announce the baby Jesus as God – and traditionally meant the end of the arable farm worker's annual holiday and signalled the start of ploughing in readiness for spring planting and summer growing.
Dancer Bob Hart, who has been performing at Plough Sunday for the past 24 years, said: "It is a great social event."