Guldize “the feast of ricks” is the Cornish ritual feast held in celebration of the successful completion and gathering in of the harvest.

The reaping of the harvest, with hooks or scythes, would in the past have been a very lengthy process of hard ‘back breaking’ work. To encourage labourers, the farmer would provide a good supper before the work of cutting the corn crop, binding it into ‘shocks’ to be arranged into ‘stooks’ to dry before being carried off to stack into ricks.

The binding of the last shock, which is the ‘neck’ is announced and celebrated with the old cry of  ‘I have’n!’ three times. In the past, these cries would have been heard eerily across the land as each farm announced its completion of the harvest.

The tradition of ‘Crying the Neck’ has been revived on a number of Cornish farms by the ‘Old Cornwall Societies’.

The words of the ritual, which are given in both English and Cornish, on many of these farms follow thus:

The Prayer given before Cutting the Neck:

“O God, who dost shower upon us the abundance of Thy Mercy, and cast upon the seed which we have sown in the ground, at one time the heat of the sun, at another the moisture of the rain, so that it should thrive and shoot forth and from it be grown finally the corn, the last ears of which are now to be cut and lifted up with a cry of gladness after the custom of our forefathers; we thank Thee for these great blessings beseeching Thee thus to continue to show to us Thy loving kindness, that our land may yield us its increase in all years as heretofore, to Thy glory and our comfort, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”.

The Crying:

The Cutter: “I have’n! I have’n! I have’n!”
The Others: “What have’ee? What have’ee? What have’ee?”

The Cutter: “A Neck! A Neck! A Neck!”
The Others: “Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”