Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1917 — DANCING SEEN IN CHURCHES [ARTICLE]

DANCING SEEN IN CHURCHES

Custom Is Practiced Frequently Abroad in Connection With Vai rious Ceremonies. This custom is practiced in the parish church of Musgrave, in Westmorland, England, in connection with the ancient rite of rush-bearing. On May day each year twelve young girls of Brough assemble in the morning at the foot of Brough bridge, decorated with flowers and fresh garlands on their heads. Accompanied by a band, they proceed through the fields to Musgrave. The girls are led up to the north aisle of the church, and they hang their garlands at the side, there to remain until the next year. The Gospel is read by the clergyman, prayers are offered and psalms sung. A space is then cleared near the altar, and a fiddle produced. Dancing now commences and continues until the afternoon. Dancing is frequently seen in Continental churches. During the Corpus Christi octave a ballet is danced every evening before the high altar of Seville Cathedral by boys from twelve to seventeen years of age. They wear plumed hats and the dress of pages of .the time of Philip 111. To this day a dancing procession chanting a curious carol takes place at Echternach, in Luxemburg, on Tuesday in Whitsun week. It is called the Procession of Jumping Saints, and consists of a long train of pilgrims dancing three paces forward and then backward. They dance f,rom the bridge over the Saur to the "church, round the altar, and then separate at a cross in the cemetery.