The Holy Thorn Ceremony: Revival, Rivalry and Civil Religion in Glastonbury

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

Glastonbury and Holy Ceremony Glastonbury is a small market town (population approximately 9000) that rises up steeply from Somerset Levels, an area of drained marshland, in south west of England. centre of town is dominated by ruins of once magnificent Glastonbury Abbey, one of most significant British pilgrimage destinations of Middle Ages until its dissolution at Reformation in 1539. Despite Abbey's demise, people continued to be drawn to town; throughout twentieth century, Glastonbury attracted increasingly numerous and varied spiritual seekers (Hexham 1981; Benham 1993; Bowman 1993; Prince and Riches 2000). Glastonbury's current status as a significant and sacred site for a great range of people is unparalleled in British Isles (Ivakhiv 2001; Bowman 2005), being variously considered Isle of Avalon, site of a great Druidic centre of learning, a significant prehistoric centre of Goddess worship, cradle of English Jerusalem, a communication point for alien contact, epicentre of New Age in England, and heart chakra of planet Earth. degree of legend and speculation surrounding town and its past is such that some refer not to Glastonbury's history, but its mythtory. Alternative spirituality in Glastonbury tends to be designated as such in implied contrast to Christianity, as if Christianity itself was a monolithic, tightly-defined phenomenon. As I have argued elsewhere, however (Bowman 2000), much of Glastonbury's success as a Christian centre has been built on what is often thought of as folk religion, defined by Yoder as the totality of all those views and practices of that exist among people apart from and alongside strictly theological and liturgical forms of official religion (1974, 14; 2001, 80), and many of myths and practices of alternative community relate to vernacular Christian tradition. Contemporary Christianity in Glastonbury is also varied, not simply in terms of denominational divisions, but in attitudes to Glastonbury's myths and their significance, degree of interaction there might be with alternative community, and how best to promote Christianity in twenty-first century. One of town's most significant myths is that St Joseph of Arimathea (the man who provided a tomb for Jesus) brought Christianity to Glastonbury, and planted there Holy that blossoms both in spring and in winter. Each December since 1929 a calendar custom has taken place in Glastonbury commemorating and celebrating this legend--the Holy Ceremony. By 1990s, when I first started to study it, there were three main elements to this custom: * cutting of sprigs from Holy outside Anglican church of St John Baptist in Glastonbury in presence of vicar of St John's and other clergy, Mayor, members of town council, children from Church of England St John's Infants School, and some of their parents and other relations. is cut by eldest child at St John's School. * (re)telling of legend--also contained in The Holy Thorn song [1] sung by children--that St Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury, bringing with him Holy Thorn. * After ceremony, sending of sprays of Christmas flowering thorn to Queen. (It is widely believed that Queen has thorn on her breakfast table on Christmas Day.) This is very much a Gastonia custom, which attracts few outsiders. Local press and television are always in attendance, and photographs of cutter, vicar and Mayor beside tend to appear each year in local papers. In this article, I shall expand upon rather bald account already given to explore topic under three broad headings: story of Holy Thorn, ceremony based upon it, and significance of custom. …