May 10.] WHITSUNDAY.

May 10.]

WHITSUNDAY.

In the Catholic times of England it was usual to dramatise the descent of the Holy Ghost, which this festival commemorates,—a custom we find alluded to in Barnaby Googe’s translation of Naogeorgus:

“On Whit-sunday whyte pigeons tame in strings from heaven flie,
And one that framed is of wood still hangeth in the skie.
Thou seest how they with idols play, and teach the people too;
None otherwise than little gyrls with puppets used to do.”

In an old Computus, anno 1509, of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, we find iv^s. vii^d. paid to those playing with the great and little angel and the dragon; iii^s. paid for little cords employed about the Holy Ghost; iv^s. vi^d. for making the angel (thurificantis) censing, and ii^s. ii^d. for cords of it—all on the feast of Pentecost.—Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 685.

Whitsunday is observed as a Scarlet Day in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.—Kalendar of the English Church, 1865, p. 73.

The origin of the term Whitsunday has been warmly contested by various writers, and still seems to be an undecided question. For an interesting article on this subject, see N. & Q. 5th S. vol. i. pp. 401-403. Consult also N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. ii. p. 154; 3rd S. vol. vii. p. 479; 4th S. vol. xi. p. 437. Dr. Neale’s Church Festivals and their Household Words.—The Prayer Book Interleaved (Champion and Beaumont).

Whitsun Ale.

—Ale was so prevalent a drink amongst us in old times, as to become a part of the name of various festal meetings, as Leet-ale, Lamb-ale, Bride-ale (bridal), and, as we see, Whitsun-ale. It was the custom of our ancestors to have parochial meetings every Whitsuntide, usually in some barn near the church, consisting of a kind of picnic, as each parishioner brought what victuals he could spare. The ale, which had been brewed pretty strong for the occasion, was sold by the churchwardens, and from its profits a fund arose for the repair of the church.—See Book of Days, vol. i. p. 637; also Brand, Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. pp. 276, 283.