English festivals harvests since pagan times. Harvest festival is traditionally held on the Sunday near or of the Harvest Moon. This is the full Moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox (22 or 23 September). The celebrations on this day usually include singing hymns, praying, and decorating churches with baskets of fruit and food in the festival known as Harvest Festival. A community form of celebration known as Harvest Home has been observed in England since medieval times. The festival historically involved the local farmer giving dinner to those who helped to bring in the crops. The festival is celebrated on
The Moon is made of green cheese cheese" in this proverb simply refers to a young cheese (sometimes "cream cheese" is used), though modern people may interpret the color reference literally. There was never an actual historical popular belief that the Moon is made of green cheese ("cf.", Flat Earth and the myth of the Flat Earth). It was typically used as an example of extreme credulity, a meaning that was clear and commonly understood as early as 1638. There exists a family of stories in comparative mythology in diverse countries that concern a simpleton who sees a reflection of the Moon and mistakes it for a