Plough Monday

1529

Recurring English custom marking the start of the agricultural year on the first Monday after Epiphany, in which costumed celebrants, sometimes cross-dressed, dragged a plough house to house demanding money, threatening to plough up the front path of anyone who refused. The earliest source naming the day comes from Cambridgeshire in 1529; a related plough race is recorded at Carlton in Lindrick in the late 13th century.