page_title: Rogation days
section_title: In the British Isles
hierarchical_section_title: Rogation days / In the British Isles
caption_attribution_description: English: Illustration from Sarum Processional, ed. W.G. Henderson, 1882, McCorquodale, Leeds, UK (p.122). Woodcut showing order of procession for Rogation Days in Pre-Reformation England, c early 16th century.
context_page_description: Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity. They are observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The so-called major rogation is held on 25 April; the minor rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday preceding Ascension Thursday. The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask", which reflects the beseeching of God for the appeasement of his anger and for protection from calamities.
context_section_description: The Rogation Day ceremonies are thought to have arrived in the British Isles in the 7th century.
  The oldest known Sarum text regarding Rogation Days is dated from around 1173 to 1220. In it, celebrations in the south of England are described, in which processions were led by members of the congregation carrying banners which represented various biblical characters. At the head of the procession was the dragon, representing Pontius Pilate, which would be followed by a lion, representing Christ. After this there would be images of saints carried by the rest of the congregation. Many torches were present at each procession, weighing between 42 lb (19 kg) and 27 lbs (12 kg), which were bought by the church and parishioners jointly.
  Sarum texts from the 13th and 15th centuries show that the dragon was eventually moved to the rear of the procession on the vigil of the Ascension, with the lion taking the place at the front. Illustrations of the procession from the early 16th century show that the arrangements had been changed yet again, this time also showing bearers of reliquaries and incense.
  During the reign of King Henry VIII, Rogation processions were used as a way to assist crop yields, with a notable number of the celebrations taking place in 1543 when there were prolonged rains. Even before religious sensibilities turned towards the puritanical, there were concerns about the lack of piety at such events. Robert Herrick penned a piece to capture the mood of the celebrations before their repression:
  Dearest, bury me
  
  Under that Holy-oak, or Gospel Tree
  
  Where (though thou see'st not) thou may'st think upon
  
  Me, when you yearly go'st Procession
  During the reign of King Edward VI, the Crown having taken much of the Church's holdings within the country, liturgical ceremonies were not officially condoned or recognised as an official part of worship. However, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I the celebrations were explicitly mentioned in the royal reformation, allowing them to resume as public processions.
  Rogation processions continued in the post-Reformation Church of England much as they had before, and Anglican priests were encouraged to bring their congregations together for inter-parish processions. At specific intervals, clerics were to remind their congregations to be thankful for their harvests. Psalms 103 and 104 were sung, and people were reminded of the curses the Bible ascribed to those who violated agricultural boundaries. The processions were not mandatory, but were at the discretion of the local minister, and were also ascribed more importance when a public right of way needed to be protected from agricultural or other expansion.
  The marches would follow prescribed routes, with York and Coventry being unique in their following royal entries. On other routes, altars were erected at certain locations where antiphons were sung.
  Any Roman Catholic imagery or icons were banned from the processions. The then Archdeacon of Essex, Grindal of London, besought the church explicitly to label the tradition as a perambulation of the parish boundaries (beating the bounds), further to distance it from Italian liturgy. In the book Second Tome of Homelys, a volume containing officially sanctioned homilies of the Elizabethan church, it was made clear that the English Rogation was to remember town and other communal boundaries in a social and historical context, with extra emphasis on the stability gained from lawful boundary lines.
  For years after Rogation Days were recognised, the manner in which they were observed in reality was very different from the official decree. While it was officially ordered that the entire congregation attend, bishops began urging their priests to invite only older and more pious men. This, they believed, would stop the drunken revelry in those dioceses where Protestantism had yet to take a firm hold. Royal Injunctions concerning the practice were reinterpreted to restrict and regulate participants of the festivities.
  In London, Rogation Days, just like Easter or Hocktide, were times when begging was
caption: Woodcut illustration of Pre-Reformation processional order, c. early 16th century.
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