Farmer‘s calendar

Peasant rules that determine the year

A cold wind blows over the fields. It is March 21. Winter is not quite over yet, but the farmer knows what he has to do. Because his father, his grandfather and even his great-grandfather have always started sowing on March 21. After all, an old farmer's rule says: "If the grain is to be thick, it should be sown on St. Benedict."

In earlier times, commoners in many places could neither read nor write. At that time, their daily tasks and farm work were carried out according to where the sun was in the sky, while festivities and dates were based on the remembrance of the saints.

"Tomorrow is March 19." That's probably not how a farmer would have put it a few centuries ago. Instead, he would probably have said, "Tomorrow is Josephi Day."

The basis for this is the calendarium romanum generale. It lists the feast and commemoration days of all the saints and thus provides the cornerstones for the seasonal orientation.

Regional saints and patrons can be found in each village. They are venerated and festivals too correspond to different commemoration days depending on the location. In Altmünster, for example, one of the largest fairs in the state takes place every year. It is always on the weekend before St. Mary Magdalene, whose feast day is July 22.

Weather rules, or so-called "farmer's rules", have been handed down to this day and are still sometimes applied. They are simple sentences in rhyme form that have been passed on orally from generation to generation. Without satellite images, television and the Internet, you would have to rely on time-honoured countryside knowledge. For example, on March 19, one would say, "If St. Joseph's Day is clear, it will be a fruitful year!"

In addition, the farmer's calendar is a necessary guide for various farming activities, such as sowing and harvesting. That is why one says of April 4: "Sow peas on St. Ambrose Day, rich and good for mush are they."

The rhymed wisdom has lost its importance in times of modern weather forecasts. But maybe through them we can discover connections between the wind, clouds and sun and further our understanding.