| has gloss | eng: The rushcart ceremony, according to "History and the Morris Dance" (2005) by John Cutting, derives from Rogationtide. Parishioners would process around a parish once a year, bearing rushes. They would end up at a church and place the rushes on the floor of the church, to replace worn-out rushes. Before the nineteenth century carpets were too expensive for everyone who was not an aristocrat. At least 5 rushbearing ceremonies still occur in Cumbria (see ) where girls dressed in green process around the town. There are a few elsewhere, but were once common. Again according to John Cutting, the earliest record of rushbearing is 1385 at Tavistock. As towns grew in size, the place where rushes still grew were further and further from the church itself. Also the existence of carpets in churches made the ceremonies redundant. |
