What is Rogation Sunday?
The Rogation Days, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, originated in Vienne, France (not Vienna, Austria), in 470 after a series of natural disasters had caused much suffering among the people. Archbishop Mamertus proclaimed a fast and ordered that special litanies and prayers be said as the population processed around their fields, asking God’s protection and blessing on the crops that were just beginning to sprout. The Latin word rogare means “to ask”, thus these were “rogation” processions. In an agricultural society, closely connected with the soil and highly vulnerable to the uncertainties of nature, this was an idea that took root quickly, and the custom spread around Europe and over to Britain. The Sunday before the Rogation Days came to be considered a part of Rogationtide (or “Rogantide”) and was known as Rogation Sunday.
The Gospel formerly appointed for that day was from John 16, where Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and ye shall receive. While technically they were days of fasting, for which they were also known as “Grass Days,” for the meatless meals that were enjoined, the Rogation Days developed into a popular festival, celebrating the arrival of spring and serving other purposes, as well. In some parishes, the procession took more than one day and the whole business became an occasion for several days of picnics and revels of all sorts, particularly among those who trooped along at the fringes of the religious aspects of the procession. The route of the walk was around the boundaries of the parish, which was a civil as well as a religious unit.
Thus, the processions were useful in teaching people, particularly the young, their parish boundaries. Known as “beating the bounds,” the processions customarily stopped at boundary marks and other significant landmarks of the parish, such as a venerable tree, or a great rock, or perhaps a pond. The priest would read the Gospel and perhaps affix a cross to the landmark. Then the boys of the parish would suffer some indignity intended to help them remember the spot. Boys were bumped about against rocks and trees, thrown into the water, held upside-down over fences, thrown into bramble patches, or beaten with willow wands- and then given a treat in compensation. In later times, the marchers beat the boundary marker with the willow wands, beating the bounds, rather than the boys.
The reminder of boundaries had another important impact on communal life. In a poem by the 20th century American Robert Frost, the poet’s neighbor asserts that “good fences make good neighbors.” Boundaries are often very important in relationships. As members of parishes beat the bounds, they would often encounter obstructions and violations of boundaries. The annual beating of the bounds provided an opportunity to resolve boundary issues. It also led to the tradition of seeking reconciliation in personal relationships, during Rogationtide. The sharing of a specially brewed ale, called Ganging Beer, “Beating the Bounds” and a mysterious pastry, called Rammalation Biscuits, Claverton, 1999 at the end of the walk was a good way of sealing the reconciliation.
George Herbert gave the following good reasons to beat the bounds; 1) a blessing of God for the fruits of the field; 2) Justice in the preservation of the bounds; 3) Charity, in living, walking, and neighborly accompanying one another, with reconciling of differences at that time if they are any; 4) Mercie, in relieving the poor by a liberal distribution of largess which at that time is or ought to be made. Keeping the Rogation Days Today Much of modern society has lost its direct connection with the soil, but his psychological distance does not lessen the actual dependence of all people on the gifts of nature. Furthermore, responsible stewardship of all of these gifts is increasingly being recognized as the concern of all people. Days of thanksgiving, harvest festivals, and the like are observed in many churches at the end of the growing season.
The Rogation Days at the time of planting have become little more than a liturgical footnote in the American Prayer Book, but in these times of growing ecological concern, the Church would do well to revive them. Practically speaking, the revival of Rogation observances is likely to involve more people if they are part of a Sunday service. There will be many places where farms and rural countryside will not be the locale of processions and blessings. But even in urban churches, there should be an awareness of our dependence upon the fruits and resources of the earth, of the ways in which resources are wasted, of the dangers of pollution, and of our responsibility for honest labor and industry. The Rogation Days remind us that we are all part of creation, and dependent upon both nature and our fellow humans for the necessities of life.
