The Dean’s gloves on Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi · Durham, County Durham

No longer kept

County Durham

The Durham trades companies’ Corpus Christi procession to the cathedral outlived the Reformation and lasted until about eighty years before Henderson wrote. The companies carried their banners with a band, and boys bore burning ropes in place of the old torches. The Prior had once blessed them at the church door; the Dean in later days gave each warden a pair of gloves.

As the Prior of old, so the Dean of later days, accompanied the procession to the door of the Cathedral, but, whereas the Prior there dismissed them with his blessing, the Dean presented each warden with a pair of gloves.

From Henderson's Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, p. 87. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

The Coventry pageants No longer kept WarwickshireBefore the Reformation Coventry was famous for the pageants played on Corpus Christi day, which drew crowds from far and near.
The York Corpus Christi play Still kept YorkshireThe Guild of Corpus Christi at York was bound to put on a Corpus Christi play every year, and it was acted in the city until 1584.
The Fourth of June in Edinburgh No longer kept MidlothianWhile George III reigned, his birthday on the fourth of June was kept as a real holiday across the kingdom, with bonfires, loyal toasts and boys firing toy cannon from morning to night.
Fern and flowers at the door for Corpus Christi No longer kept FlintshirePennant's manuscript notes that in Wales, on the eve of the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, the feast of Corpus Christi, the people of Caerwys strewed before their doors a kind of fern they called Red yn Mair.
The Skinners’ procession on Corpus Christi Day No longer kept LondonOn Corpus Christi Day the members of the Skinners' Company of London walked in procession from their hall on Dowgate Hill to the church of St Antholin in Watling Street to hear a service.
Holm Cultram fairs at Maundy Thursday and Corpus Christi No longer kept CumberlandThe lordship of Holm Cultram held two fairs a year, one on Maundy Thursday and one on Corpus Christi day.
Tower Hill fireworks for the King’s birthday No longer kept LondonEach year the artillery train let off a grand firework on Tower Hill on the evening of George III's birthday.
Torches about the parish on Corpus Christi No longer kept LondonOn Corpus Christi Day the London parish of St Mary-at-Hill hired men to carry torches round the parish, with flags and garlands for the procession.
Corpus Christi knappan at St Meugan’s No longer kept Cardiganshire, PembrokeshireOn Corpus Christi Day the men of Kemes met the men of Emlyn and Cardiganshire at St Meugan's for the second of the two great knappan games held there.

The Dean’s gloves on Corpus Christi

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