Today is Maundy Thursday, the day when the Last Supper is said to have taken place and Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Apparently foot-washing was a sign of good hospitality in ancient civilisations, especially where most people wore sandals. A good host would provide water for his guests to wash their feet, provide a servant to wash the feet of the guests or even serve the guests by washing their feet. Jesus was following tradition but also giving a lesson equality, humility, and service.
I had a vague memory of a tradition of English monarchs washing people’s feet so I wiki-checked it. Here we go’
“In the Middle Ages, English monarchs washed the feet of beggars in imitation of Jesus, and presented gifts and money to the poor. Over time, additional money was substituted for the clothing and other items that had once been distributed.”
“The first English royal to be recorded donating garments, good and gifts to the poor was King John in 1210.”
“Beginning in 1699 the monarch did not attend the service, sending an official in his place. The custom of royal representatives washing the feet of beggars did not survive the 18th century.”
Hmm, so even before the foot-washing act of service to others faded away, the monarch sent a minion to do it on his behalf. So much for a mast showing his subjects how things should be done!
After they stopped washing feet, they continued giving money, specially minted Maundy coins, given out by a representative of the monarch. Then in 1931 Princess Marie Louise attended Royal Maundy, and afterwards suggested that her cousin, King George V, make the distributions the following year. And so a new tradition began. Queen Elizabeth did it almost every year of her reign. King Charles seems to be following suit, although Camilla stood in for him while he was having treatment for cancer.
Recipients were once chosen for their poverty and were entitled to remain as Maundy recipients for life; today new recipients are chosen every year for service to their churches or communities, on the recommendation of clergymen of various Christian denominations. This year Charles will give Maundy Money to 76 men and 76 women, one for each year of his life.
Around here, we have our own tradition. Three crosses are erected on Knott Hill, a high point overlooking the village, no doubt referencing the old Easter hymn: “There is a green hill far away/ without a city wall”. The crosses usually remain there until Epiphany.
Yesterday, when the house was full of family - my daughter, her five offspring, and my great-niece, just visiting and staying for fish’n’chips - Granddaughter Number One looked out of the window and commented, “Why is Jesus not on the hill?” That was one way of putting it, I suppose. We speculated that maybe the crosses don’t actually go up until Good Friday. Much discussion followed and the younger generation showed a distinct lack knowledge of the Easter story, this despite almost all of them having attended Church of England Primary schools! One suggested that Jesus was resurrected on Easter Monday - an interesting notion! If I see them on Sunday, I’ll investigate whatvtheybknow about Easter Eggs!
Then today my daughter sent me a copy of this social media post from the Delph Community Group:
“St Thomas’ Church, Delph
Due to our concerns about adequately and safely securing the crosses, we haven’t been able to continue the tradition of erecting crosses on Knott Hill overlooking the village this year. We hope to resume the tradition next Easter with secure new mountings.”
So there we are!
Getting back to feet, I assume that in ‘ancient civilisations” sandals were worn without socks. Otherwise there would have had to be a washing line for all the wet socks after the foot-washing. Now, Grandson Number One, who at almost twenty years old considers himself a knowledgable young man on matters of fashion, and who seems to have too much money to spend on expensive fashion items these days, was talking about buying some new sandals - expensive designer sandals no doubt. And he tells me that sandals should be worn with socks. Men have often been mocked for wearing socks with sandals but seemingly the younger generation regard this as the norm. In fact Grandson Number One was quite horrified at the suggestion that one might put bare feet into footwear of any kind - “just think how sweaty your sandals would be - at least socks get washed!”
No carefree hippies in the current youth, it seems!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment