Liz Wright charts the history of the donkey from Christmas to the current times and finds out how much we owe this often under-rated animal.
The importance of the donkey to civilisations all over the world, including the UK, cannot be over stated. In fact, it’s fair to say that the world has been built on the back of a donkey and for a significant part of the globe, it still it is.
The donkey supported people in trading links, bringing goods across inhospitable parts of the world to major civilisations, carried building materials, allowed communities access to food, water and healthcare plus, as we see on our screens now, was the only thing left in times of war or displacement to bring families to some sort of safety.
We should never underestimate how much the donkey has helped humans in all parts of their history, and continues to do so in the historical ways but also in modern ways such as therapy and leisure.
The donkey is an integral part of the Christmas story. It is there again at Easter, carrying Jesus on Palm Sunday. There are at least 93 mentions of the donkey in the Bible and spiritually, the donkey represents service, suffering, peace and humility, the values aligned with Christianity.
So why, when I try to buy any donkey decorations for my Christmas tree, am I mostly unable to do so? I see polar bears, hedgehogs, rocking horses, flamingos even, but I don’t see donkeys. Over the years I have managed to gather together a small collection of donkey ornaments, some of which I’ve either had to make myself or get from clever, crafty friends. It’s not like donkeys don’t appeal to people. They are an extremely popular animal so why can we not firmly fix them back into Christmas and respect their role in civilisation?
The donkey came to England with the Roman slaves, where it carried goods to support the army. In Egypt it was worshiped by some, so to be down-graded to a pack animal at slave level started the lack of respect for this strong animal. Once here, its usefulness knew no bounds. Pack animals were regularly used and this thrifty, hardy and adaptable beast was welcomed.
Image credit, above and main image: Liz Barrett
Donkeys originate from the desert and if you know that, then you can work out the best ways to manage them. They are adapted to cope well on sandy, rocky ground, to walk a long way every day to find not much fibrous food and their coats are not very waterproof, but are able to withstand cold desert nights. The complete opposite in fact of small, wet paddocks and our rain!
Eventually, the donkey made its way up to Scotland with the Romans, where the climate proved more of a challenge, although there is a healthy population in Scotland today!
The donkey did not arrive in Ireland until it went with the lower remnants of Cromwell’s army but quickly became an iconic part of Ireland and, well within living memory, was the main way to harvest peat.
An agricultural scheme, until recently, provided payments for having donkeys on less favoured land, which led to a very large population of donkeys, many of which were shipped to the UK for the leisure market.
The donkey was most useful to poorer people who could not afford a horse or pony but could manage to keep the humble donkey on common land or a tether. They did such a wide variety of tasks and even ploughed. Here, in the next village, we have a field known,as Donkey Land because it was ploughed with donkeys.
They were pivotal for carrying bricks and building materials and without a doubt, helped to build our cathedrals and Medieval halls. There is a reason why the phrase ‘donkey work’ means long, hard work.
This article extract was taken from the December 2024 edition of The Country Smallholder. To read the article in full, you can buy the issue here.
