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Rush Bearing,
Ambleside
On the 26th and 27th of July, the antient custom of
Rush-bearing took place at Ambleside in Westmoreland.
About seven o'clock on the Saturday evening, young girls, to
the number of about forty, formed the procession to the
Church, preceded by a band of music. Each of the girls bore
in her hands the usual rush-bearings, the origin and
signifacnce of which has so long puzzled the researches of
all our Antiquaries. These elegant little trophies were
disposed in the church round the pulpit, reading-desks,
pews, &c. and had a really beautiful and imposing
effect. They thus remained during the Sunday till the
service was finished in the afternoon, when a similar
procession was formed to convey these trophies home again.
We understand that formerly in some parts of Lancashire a
similar ceremony prevailed, under the same designation, in
which the rush-bearinsg were made in the form of
females, with a fanciful rosette for the head; and on
looking at those at Ambleside, some faint resemblance
to the female form may be traced in the outline. At least,
they nearly all possessed the flowing outline of a
petticoat. No satisfactory explanation of this ceremony has
ever yet been given: the attempt at one is, that it is
remnant of an antient custom, which formerly prevailed, of
strewing the church floors with rushes to preserve the feet
from damp; but we cannot conceive what resemblance there is
between the practice of strewing the church with rushes, and
the trophies which are now carried, and which have been
carried from time immemorial. We should rather incline to
refer its origin to the days of heathenism, as a
representative of some offering to their gods. Whatever may
have been its origin, we are happy to see that the darkening
and desolating spirit of puritanism has not yet destroyed
this little innocent festivity, along with morris dances,
wassail bowls, and May-poles: and we trust that the
Gentlemen of Windermere and Grasmere will long preserve this
last relick of the days that are gone.
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