Other traditions, especially the lost ones, are very interesting.
The Lenten and Easter season in pre-Reformation England was rich in sights and sounds and smells. Shrove Tuesday was celebrated with pancakes and football games, plays and masquerades. Ash Wednesday brought the blessing of ashes and their application by the priest to the foreheads of the faithful with the injunction ‘Remember O man that thou are dust and to dust thous shalt return’. Statues and images were veiled in cloth and a Lenten veil hung, obscuring the chancel from the laity. The Lenten fast began, a fast not only from meat but also eggs and dairy products, marriage and sexual activity.
Five and a half weeks later Easter Week commenced with Palm Sunday. Palms or, as this was England, evergreen branches were blessed and sprinkled with holy water by the priest. The priest, carrying a consecrated host in a monstrance, then led the laity with their palms in a procession out…
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