As midsummer came and went, so too did the Wolvercote and Wytham Festival. A local event with all of the village traditions you can imagine….. Part wholesome fete, part Wickerman, there’s truly a vibe for everyone….

My favourite of the traditions is the ‘Festival Haystack’, a curious custom where children participate in a village parade led by local Morris Dancers (many wearing animal masks). For an innocent by-passer to happen across this tableau without context would be an unnerving and entirely folk-horror experience …..thatched roves and cloven hooves……..As they march, participants and children bring custom-made “hayslings”—- a small bundle of hay containing a written wish, hope, message, small decorated ornaments, wishes, flags. or even a drawing. During the children’s parade, participants carry these hayslings to the festival haystack and add them as part of a communal celebration. At the end of the parade, they plant these hayslings into the Festival Haystack or in some cases, surrounding scarecrows.

I was asked to design an image for this year’s brochure, the theme being ‘Threads’. I scribbled out a load of rough sketches but this one was the winner, and I’m so happy to see my corn-dolly style dancers on the cover and posters- Corn, straw and hay can be woven and crafted almost like thread and fabric, so a nice haystack acknowledgment, and the Daisy wheel idea also a nod to the village emblem.

References

I discovered that this year the wishes were made to the fairies……each child had to climb under the hay stack and make a wish, with one child wearing the honorary wolf head….this delighted me no end and was more than fitting with my art theme this year of plant lore, folk ritual and liminal beings!.

Although the name Wolvercote sounds as though it refers to wolves, the village name actually derives from the Anglo-Saxon personal name Wulfgar (or Woolgar)—essentially meaning “Wulfgar’s cottage” or “Wulfgar’s place”—rather than indicating that the wolf is the village’s emblem. I’ve lived on the canal which runs through this village for an entire decade, and only recently recognised how the Wolf Symbol has unconsciously lured me back….I was born and bred in Wolverhampton, another Wolf-headed vicinity. ;perhaps I feel at home amongst these wild ancestral dogs. Another common thread.

Wolvercote’s connection to hay is deeply historic, tied to the ancient grazing and hay-making rights on the nearby Port Meadow and Wolvercote Common, which date back to before the Norman Conquest. The haystack tradition symbolizes the area’s rich agrarian past and community interconnectedness.

For me ‘threads’ conjures up connections and entanglements, as well as roots, and growth, creativity, patterns, identity, uniting community and common ground. Textile crafts such as quilt sewing, knitting and weaving etc. hold so much ancestral relevance, and a joy to get my head around a way s of portraying this.conceptually. I don’t often share my roughs but it’s quite fun going back over where my own thought threads were and how they eventually unravelled themselves……

Concepts

I have many poster ideas depicting this very specific haystack tradition, so wait with bated breath, an amalgamation of Worzel Gummidge, Pet Cemetery and Midsommar could be in the works……

Common threads and common ground

©KARIS HARRINGTON 2026