On Sunday October 5, at St Mary’s East Guldeford, there was a service to mark the Harvest festival and to bless Annie’s and Richard’s tractor (charmingly named Florence). The couple are local farmers as well as church wardens and like to help put on services at their church which engage the local community.
These blessings are religious ceremonies, often held in rural communities, in which priests or ministers bless tractors to symbolise prayers for a good harvest, safe working conditions and prosperity.
The services often form part of part of traditional events like Plough Sunday or Harvest Festivals and are a way for religious and farming communities to connect and ask for divine blessing on their agricultural endeavours.
The tractor and plough serve as symbols of the hard work and dedication of the farming community. The tradition has roots in medieval practices and Rogation days, which are days of prayer and fasting.
Church wardens for Camber with East Guldeford, Annie and Richard Baker took delivery of their new tractor for the farm, just before the parishes’ Harvest Festival services, this gave rise to an idea to try and fill the shiny new tractor bucket with food at each service.
Camber’s Harvest Festival at St Thomas’s, led by the parish priest Reverend Jacques Desrosiers, came first and was well-supported with lots of produce donated. One week later it was the turn of St Mary’s, East Guldeford to hold their Harvest Festival, again led by Reverend Jacques Desrosier. The service was well-attended with another generous amount of food donated, and an additional part of the service was the blessing of Florence the tractor, by Reverend Jacques. Florence was decorated for the occasion.
On Wednesday October 8, Reverend Jacques and Richard drove Florence decorated and with her bucket-full of donated food on the short journey from St Mary’s East Guldeford to the Rye Foodbank to deliver the combined donations of the Parish of Camber with East Guldeford.
Image Credits: Kt bruce .
What a lovely uplifting story – I’m sad to have missed it. When people are at a loss to describe British culture, this is a good example!
A wonderful sight given deserved respect and precedence on the kettle o fish roundabout
The community needs characters like Annie & Richard to help carry on with traditional events that have been sadly lost, fantastic down to earth heart warming story.
Stories like this brighten up Rye news comments section, let’s all hope that “Florence” the tractor gives them many hours of pleasure.