The sermon in green boughs

On St John the Baptist’s Day a sermon was preached at Magdalen College from a stone pulpit in the corner of the first court, and the court was hung with green boughs so that the preaching would look like the Baptist’s in the wilderness. Chambers gives it as an Oxford speciality of Midsummer, when people everywhere cut green branches to set over their doors. A sermon is still preached from the outdoor pulpit at Magdalen near St John’s Day.