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On Fri, 8 Nov 1996, JULIA BARROW wrote: > From: [log in to unmask] > Date sent: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 13:06:13 -0600 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: processional traditions > Send reply to: [log in to unmask] > > I'm trying to gather information about traditions of processing at > Candlemass > (Feb 2nd), usually two by two, holding candles. Bernard of Clairvaux in his > Sermon II on the Purification points out that 'we' (Cistercians presumably) > process in reverse order of seniority, so that the last are first and the > first > last, as a lesson in humility. Do other orders or communities process as it > > were backwards too? Does anyone know of other precise references to > Candlemass > practices - I have Ludolph of Saxony, MVC and related texts, Purification > plays, > and various mystics. Am I missing anything obvious? thanks for any help > Carolyne > Dr Carolyne Larrington > 32 Gt. Clarendon St > Oxford OX2 6AT > Great Britain > > tel / fax +44 (0)1865 557775 > > > Surely this is normal practice? If you look at most church processions you will > see that the senior figures come last. Whatever Bernard said about humility, > surely the main reason is to enhance the significance of the people at the end, > for dramatic purposes. > Julia Barrow > University of Nottingham > This is only intended for comparative purposes but relates to Julia's point. The same order is observed in modern secular protocol for exactly the reasons Julia points out--the Queen, for example, always enters last, rather like (pardon an undignified comparison) Santa Claus at the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in New York City. Waiting for the main figure always enhances the dramatic effect of any procession. Interestingly, however, when the assembly breaks up the ranking figure departs first, ahead of everyone else. So on a more prosaic level, the principle of "last in, first out," spares a theoretically busy public figure from having to sit around while everybody else files in or out. John Parsons %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%