Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/157

 the church is frequently the last place thought of in this festival, which has degenerated into mere rustic saturnalia. Formerly not fewer than a dozen of these processions from different parts of the parish entered Rochdale on the annual celebration; but they have now (1832) dwindled down to three or four, and are gradually dying away. This is in accordance with what Baines says in his "Lancashire," but a correspondent of Hone's "Year Book," signing "J.L." and dating from Rochdale, May 31, 1825, gives the following account of the custom of rush-bearing in that neighbourhood, illustrated by a woodcut (col. x. 1103). A few years ago, I was told by an old man now deceased, that he remembered the rushes to have been borne on the shoulders of the country people in bundles, some very plain and others ornamented with ribbons, garlands, &c., to the churchyard in Rochdale; that they were there dried previous to being put into the church, and that these rush-bearers received a small compensation from the churchwardens. This was before churches were floored with wood. The rushes were strewed for the purpose of rendering the congregation more comfortable, and saving their feet from being chilled by the stone pavements, and, in some instances, the clay floors. In many churches rushes are used in the same manner in the present day; but the old, homely method of rush-bearing on the shoulders has given place to the more luxurious and gorgeous display of the rush-cart and banner. The rushes are laid transversely on the rush-cart, and are cut by sharp knives to the form desired, in which no little art is required. The bolts, as they are termed, are formed of the largest rushes tied up in bundles of about two inches in diameter. These bolts, as the work of making proceeds, are affixed to rods fixed in the four corners of the cart, and carved to the