Plough Monday-background:

According to legend this tradition originated in the Worcestershire area, date uncertain. It tells the story of a man and a boy who were ploughing in a field when they heard an outcry in a nearby copse. On investigating they found a fairy crying that he had 'Lost his pick'. The ploughman found it for the fairy, who then said that if they looked in a certain corner of the field that they were ploughing they would find their reward. They found bread, cheese and cider which the ploughman ate but the boy was too terrified to touch. Later it came to be known as the Cake in the Furrow, where it became the tradition to make offerings of food and drink in the fields at the start of the years ploughing. In Scotland it was called 'Streeking the Plough', and was the equivalent of the English Plough Monday festival.