The Lovers' Knot is one of the smaller Harvest Tokens in the tradition, and one of the most direct. Two readings exist for it. The first: that agricultural workers wore tokens like this at the annual hiring fairs, as a badge of trade, the way you might recognise a tradesman now by the tools clipped to a belt.
The second is the one most people repeat. At the end of the harvest, a young farm lad would plait a token and give it to his sweetheart. If she returned the feeling, she wore it over her heart. If she didn't, she didn't. As a piece of folk shorthand it is hard to beat.
Lucy plaits this version by hand from heritage straw and adds a short cotton ribbon loop so it can be hung from a hook, a beam, or a Christmas branch. Roughly 12cm long with a 6cm ribbon loop.
Lucy Hook-ChildThe Lovers' Knot is one of the smaller Harvest Tokens in the tradition, and one of the most direct. Two readings exist for it. The first: that agricultural workers wore tokens like this at the annual hiring fairs, as a badge of trade, the way you might recognise a tradesman now by the tools clipped to a belt.
The second is the one most people repeat. At the end of the harvest, a young farm lad would plait a token and give it to his sweetheart. If she returned the feeling, she wore it over her heart. If she didn't, she didn't. As a piece of folk shorthand it is hard to beat.
Lucy plaits this version by hand from heritage straw and adds a short cotton ribbon loop so it can be hung from a hook, a beam, or a Christmas branch. Roughly 12cm long with a 6cm ribbon loop.
Lucy Hook-Child plaits corn dollies and harvest tokens in heritage straw from her studio in Essex. Two of her third great-grandaunts were straw plaiters in Belchamp Walter in the 1850s. She is one of the makers keeping this Red List craft alive today.
Lucy Hook-Child plaits corn dollies and harvest tokens in heritage straw from her studio in Essex. Two of her third great-grandaunts were straw plaiters in Belchamp Walter in the 1850s. She is one of the makers keeping this Red List craft alive today.
