Corn Dollies are a form of straw work associated with harvest customs. Primitive communities believed that the corn spirit lived amongst the crop, and the harvest made it effectively homeless. Therefore, they fashioned hollow shapes from the last sheaf of wheat or other cereal crop. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in their homes until the "corn dolly" was ploughed into the first furrow of the new season. "Dolly" is a corruption of idol.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_dolly



At Jericho, where excavations dated a settlement around 6000 BCE, female figures have ben found suggestive of a worship of a Mother-Goddess. This perhaps represents one of the earliest recorded fertility vegetation cults.The regular cultivation of the crops was observed to be a cycle of events. Such cycles could be unpredictable, especially in times of drought. Around this cycle it seems a cult of death and resurrection developed. […] In Scotland two dollies might be made. The first would be the young maiden, 'maighdean bhuana', the second the hag or 'cailleagh'. These are more typical pagan symbols, the hag representing the crone of winter.

http://www.celticmist.freeserve.co.uk/corndolly.htm


Some more quite interesting mythological and Celtic lore (of which this is a brief extract) on this site…

The harvested crops may feed us over the harsh winter months but, in order to renew them at the end of this time, we must be sure to collect and store the seeds for their eventual rebirth. Contained within them is the mystery of Life in Death in the image of the Wicker Man, the Corn Man or John Barleycorn. In some cultures the last sheaf of grain to be harvested became the Barley-mother, the Old Woman, the Maiden, to be honored until spring and then re-planted. One of the most widespread traditions is the corn dolly made out of the last sheaf of wheat cut. Known variously as the Wheat Bride, Kern Baby, Old Woman, Wheat Mother, etc. it was kept carefully throughout the winter, then either plowed into the fields the following spring, or burned and the ashes scattered over the fields. Each district also had their own customs concerning the making of the dolly. Some simply made the doll from the cut stalks (averting their faces so that the Grain Goddess couldn't tell who had struck the killing blow) while others left a tuft of wheat uncut, plaited it , and then had the men throw their scythes at it until it was cut. Some places made the carrying of the Corn Dolly to the house a kind of game where one man tried to run back with it without anyone else taking it away from him. This could be an early form of "football" and where the tradition of this game began. The embodiment of the Spirit of Vegetation, the dolly was put in a position of honor in the home. Sometimes a communal dolly was kept in the church and a large feast took place after the last of the harvest was in.

http://www.crystalforest3.homestead.com/Mabon.html



For a picture of the stooks in a field, scroll down this page…

http://www.strawcraftsmen.co.uk/resource.html