Cambridge 2000: Mill Lane
| Description: Mill Lane: Rogation Sunday, Beating the Bounds |
The fifth Sunday after Easter is known as Rogation Sunday,
and in a very old ceremony, called Beating the Bounds, the
members of
Little St Mary's
walk around the parish boundary, which fortunately is not
that long. As part of this they chant and occasionally
stop and say a few words. All the while incense is
burnt, leaving a nice smell in the atmosphere, especially back
in the church itself, where the walk starts. This ceremony was
originally carried out to ensure that nobody was moving parish
boundaries, but dressed up in a religious ceremony converts it
from a base materialistic operation into something more ethereal.
Cambridge often seems like it is stuck in the 18th century, and
this ceremony moves it back in time much further than that.
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