I took my camera with me

Today is Maundy Thursday.

Andrew Neil announced the fact on his Daily Politics show.

Her Majesty the Queen gave out the Royal Maundy Money at Armagh cathedral.

The BBC news bulletins reported that sundry bishops and senior clergymen were going through shopping centres cleaning the shoes of passers-by, as an alternative to the more formal and ritualised washing-of-feet at the Maundy evening services.



Although I have nothing against the bishops and their mission to go out to the people, the thought occurred to me that this is the way customs and traditions disappear (“the world moves on” “we can't become fossilised” “you can’t have the Church of England set in aspic” etc etc).

Therefore when I went to the Maundy Eucharist this evening I took my camera with me and (with prior agreement) photographed the ritual washing-of-the-feet.



Above: the Maundy ritual washing-of-the-feet - only two people get their feet washed.

The church I went to was down on the plain, right by a river, one of the “Pretty Rural Villages” of Mosaic classification.

The evening was cold and wet. Inside the church I spoke briefly to one of the churchwardens, and then to the Vicar. I sat right at the front (the walls of this 12th century priory church splay outwards, so that you feel any moment the roof is going to come down).

The choir was surprisingly large, about thirty in all, half of them young women. The young Vicar had a rich voice, like Richard Burton reading Under Milk Wood. In his sermon he talked about loving our neighbours, and told us: “It is more fun to love people you don’t like.”

After the sung Eucharist came the ceremony of stripping the altars (the choir singing psalms and anthems). The remains of consecrated bread and wine were removed to an altar in the Corpus Christi chapel (a sort of mysterious gothic cupboard in the south-east corner where the watch-until-daybreak is being held). The lights were turned out, except for tiny sidelights, leaving us sitting in the dark (until eventually, one by one, we got up and left).

Very bright moon on the drive back across the plain.

More on the Royal Maundy Money: http://www.24carat.co.uk/maundystory.html

More on Mosaic classification: http://www.prospectlocator.com/index.aspx?pageid=16