April 26.]

ROGATION SUNDAY.

Rogation Sunday received and retains its title from the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday immediately following it, which are called Rogation Days, derived from the Latin rogare, to beseech; the earliest Christians having appropriated extraordinary prayers and supplications for those three days, as a preparation for the devout observance of our Saviour’s Ascension on the day next succeeding to them, denominated Holy Thursday, or Ascension Day.

So early as the year 550, Claudius Mamertus, bishop of Vienne in France, extended the object of Rogation Days, before then solely applied to a preparation for the ensuing festival of the Ascension, by joining to that service other solemnities, in humble supplication for a blessing on the fruits of the earth at this season blossoming forth. Whether, as is asserted by some authors, Mamertus had cause to apprehend that any calamity might befall them by blight or otherwise at this particular period, or merely adapted a new Christian rite on the Roman terminalia, is a matter of dispute. Sidonius, bishop of Clermont, soon followed the example, and the first Council of Orleans, held in the sixth century, confirmed its observance throughout the Church. The whole week in which these days happen is styled Rogation Week; and in some parts it is still known by the other names of Cross Week, Grass Week, and Gang or Procession Week: Rogation, in token of the extraordinary praying; Cross, because anciently that symbol was borne by the priest who officiated at the ceremonies of this season; Grass, from the peculiar abstinence observed, such as salads, green-sauce, &c., then substituted for flesh; and Gang, or Procession, from the accustomed perambulations. Supplications and abstinence are yet enjoined by the Reformed Church, and also such part of the ceremony of the processions as relates to the perambulating of the circuit of parishes, conformably to the regulation made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. One of our church homilies of the day is composed particularly for this occasion. “The people shall once a year, at the time accustomed,” says the injunction of that Sovereign, “with the curate and substantial men of the parish, walk about the parishes as they were accustomed, and at their return to church make their common prayers; provided that the curate in the said common perambulations, as heretofore in the days of Rogations, at certain convenient places, shall admonish the people to give thanks to God, in the beholding of God’s benefits, for the increase and abundance of his fruits upon the face of the earth, with the saying of Psalm civ., Benedic, anima mea, &c.: at which time also the same minister shall inculcate this and such like sentences, “Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and dales of his neighbour,” or such other words of prayer as shall be hereafter appointed.” The bearing of willow wands makes part of this ceremony.

Before the Reformation, the processions in this week were observed with every external mark of devotion; the Cross was borne about in solemn pomp, to which the people bowed the ready knee; with other rites considered of too superstitious a nature to warrant their continuance.—Brady, Clavis Calendaria, 1815, vol. i. p. 348.

Bedfordshire.

A certain estate in Husborne Crawley has to pay 4l. on Rogation Day, once in seven years, to defray the expenses of perambulating, and keeping up the boundaries of the parish.—Old English Customs and Charities, p. 116.

Dorsetshire.

On Monday in Rogation week was formerly held in the town of Shaftesbury or Shaston a festival called the Bezant, a festival so ancient that no authentic record of its origin exists.

The borough of Shaftesbury stands upon the brow of a lofty hill, and until lately, owing to its situation, was so deficient in water that its inhabitants were indebted for a supply of this necessary article of life to the little hamlet of Enmore Green, which lies in the valley below. From two or three wells or tanks, situate in the village, the water with which the town was provided was carried up the then precipitous road, on the backs of horses and donkeys, and sold from door to door.

The Bezant was an acknowledgment on the part of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough to the lord of the manor of Mitcombe, of which Enmore Green forms a part, for the permission to use this privilege; no charter or deed, however, exists among their archives, as to the commencement of the custom, neither are there any records of interest connected with its observances beyond the details of the expenses incurred from year to year. On the morning of Rogation Monday, the mayor and aldermen accompanied by a lord and lady appointed for the occasion, and by their mace-bearers carrying the Bezant, went in procession to Enmore Green. The lord and lady performed at intervals, as they passed along a traditional kind of dance to the sound of violins; the steward of the manor meeting them at the green, the mayor offered for his acceptance, as the representative of his lord, the Bezant,—a calf’s head, uncooked,—a gallon of ale, and two penny loaves, with a pair of gloves edged with gold lace, and gave permission to use the wells, as of old, for another year. The steward, having accepted the gifts, retaining all for his own use, except the Bezant, which he graciously gave back, accorded the privilege, and the ceremony ended.

The Bezant, which gives its name to the festival is somewhat difficult to describe.[39] It consisted of a sort of trophy, constructed of ribbons, flowers, and peacock’s feathers, fastened to a frame, about four feet high, round which were hung jewels, coins, medals, and other things of more or less value, lent for the purpose by persons interested in the matter;[40] and many traditions prevailed of the exceeding value to which in earlier times it sometimes reached, and of the active part which persons of the highest rank in the neighbourhood took in its annual celebration.

Latterly, however, the festival sadly degenerated, and in the year 1830, the town and the manor passing into the hands of the same proprietor, it ceased altogether, and is now one of those many observances which are numbered with the past. If this had not happened, however, the necessity for it no longer exists. The ancient borough is no longer indebted to the lord of the manor for its water, for, through the liberality of the Marquis of Westminster, its present owner, the town is bountifully supplied with the purest water from an artesian well sunk at his expense.—The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 585; Hutchins, History of Dorset, 1803, vol. ii. p. 425.

Kent.

In Rogation week, about Keston and Wickham, a number of young men meet together and with a most hideous noise run into the orchards, and, encircling each tree, pronounce these words:

For this incantation the confused rabble expect a gratuity in money, or drink, which is no less welcome; but if they are disappointed of both, they with great solemnity anathematize the owners and trees with altogether as insignificant a curse. It seems highly probable that this custom has arisen from the ancient one of perambulation among the heathen, when they made prayers to the gods for the use and blessing of the fruits coming up, with thanksgiving for those of the preceding year; and as the heathens supplicated Æolus, god of the winds, for his favourable blasts, so in this custom they still retained his name with a very small variation: this ceremony is called youling, and the word is often used in their invocations.—Hasted, History of Kent, vol. i. p. 109.

Oxfordshire.

At Stanlake, says Plot, the minister of the parish, in his procession in Rogation Week, reads the Gospel at a barrel’s head, in the cellar of the Chequer Inn, in that town, where, according to some, there was formerly a hermitage, according to others a cross, at which they read a Gospel in former times; over which the house, and particularly the cellar, being built, they are forced to continue the custom.—History of Oxfordshire, 1705, p. 207.

Staffordshire.

Among the local customs which formerly prevailed at Wolverhampton may be noticed that which was popularly called “Processioning.” Many of the older inhabitants can well remember when the sacrist, resident prebendaries, and members of the choir assembled at morning prayers on Monday and Tuesday in Rogation Week, with the charity children bearing long poles clothed with all kinds of flowers then in season, and which were afterwards carried through the streets of the town with much solemnity, the clergy, singing-men and boys, dressed in their sacred vestments, closing the procession, and chanting, in a grave and appropriate melody, the Canticle, Benedicite, omnia opera, &c. This ceremony, innocent at least, and not illaudable in itself, was of high antiquity, taking probably its origin in the Roman offerings of the PrimitiÆ, from which (after being rendered conformable to our purer worship) it was adapted by the first Christians, and handed down, through a succession of ages, to modern times. The idea was, no doubt, that of returning thanks to God, by whose goodness the face of nature was renovated, and fresh means provided for the sustenance and comfort of his creatures. It was discontinued about 1765.

The boundaries of the township and parish of Wolverhampton are in many points marked out by what are called Gospel trees, from the custom of having the Gospel read under or near them by the clergyman attending the parochial perambulations. Those near the town were visited for the same purpose by the processioners before mentioned, and are still preserved with the strictest care and attention.—Shaw, History of Staffordshire, vol. ii. part i. p. 165.

Thus Herrick in his Hesperides says:—