This poem was written in the 1930’s by a dear friend of mine, Nan Northam It seems good to celebrate Rogationtide as a way of a rite of passage in Spring and a thanksgiving for creation.
O GOD, we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass. We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendour of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn’s fruit, and rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.
GRANT US a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.
The photograph above was sent by my friend Gill who received it from her friend Kate. It is a picture taken at the Marsden Cuckoo Festival which was held last weekend.
Marsden is in West Yorkshire near Huddersfield and the Cuckoo is welcomed back after its time of hibernation in warmer climes. Marsden is a village set in the steep-sided Pennine valley. It is within the National Trust’s Marsden Moor Estate. The Festival includes a colourful procession, craft fair, Maypole and Morris dancing. There is even duck races. The highlight is the Cuckoo Parade which by tradition takes place on the last Saturday of April. Local residents walk in procession down the high street waving coloured ribbons and handmade puppets. The parade is accompanied by musicians and dancers. It’s a unique experience!
The model of the Cuckoo in the photo is part of the welcome to the Cuckoo returning to us as a herald of Spring.
The story of the reason for the Festival is part of Marsden’s folklore.
Signs of Spring chasing away a long harsh winter has always been important for people living in the Pennine hills. As I spent my childhood and teenage years on the other side of the Pennine Hills from Marsden I can remember the difficult winters all too well. When the snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils appeared, then we knew Spring had arrived. Another sign, of course, is the sound of the first Cuckoo. In the Marsden story, a cuckoo took up residence in a field, or in other versions, in a tree or even down a chimney. Whatever version is correct, the result involved residents in trying to capture the bird so that Spring would remain. The field wall was built higher, or a circle of stone was built around the tree or extra height was built onto the chimney! Whatever, the bird escaped anyway, mocking them all with its call – which was proof that this herald of Spring was still doing its job. Other stories were invented in other places and nearby Austwick claims to be the first to tell the tale. Rural rivalry in these matters is very strong! The Festival continues to celebrate the event. Of course, Marsden was not alone in celebrating the ‘first’ cuckoo of Spring. There is a custom that people who think they heard the first cuckoo in Spring every year, send a letter to the Times Newspaper. This is duly printed and the readers breathe a sigh of relief that Spring is now officially here.
Historically, the sound of the first Cuckoo is attributed to St. Tiburtius who was a Christian Martyr in Rome and who was beheaded about 286AD. His feast day was April 14th (now moved to August). St Tiburtius doesn’t seem to have anything to do with a cuckoo. It’s just that tradition has it that in England the bird dutifully arrives on his feast day having made the journey from North Africa. A little rhyme was penned by Rudyard Kipling to note this: Cuckoo, bring your song here! Warrant, Act and Summons, please, For Spring to pass along here!
The arrival of the Cuckoo is usually first in the Channel Islands and then there is a northward flight. Whilst Marsden keep its important festivity, there are other places with their own traditions southward.
It’s stay in England is at least until St. John the Baptist’s day on June 24th but other dates are later including into August. A rhyme about this is:
In April I open my bill In May I sing night and day In June I change my tune In July far far I fly In August away I must
A sidelight to this is that the rhyme inspired Paul Simon to use it in what is the shortest song on the album he wrote with Art Garfunkel, The Sound of Silence. The song is April Come she will, and it is believed that Paul Simon was influenced by a girl he met in England in 1964, who recited the song. He thought that this song of Nature was a useful metaphor for the changing moods of a girlfriend. The lyrics can work the other way and tell us something of the Cuckoo’s life.
April, come she will When streams are ripe and swelled with rain May, she will stay Resting in my arms again June, she’ll change her tune In restless walks she’ll prowl the night
July, she will fly And give no warning to her flight August, die she must The autumn winds blow chilly and cold September, I remember A love once new has now grown old
It is possible that the Cuckoo has no idea of the role we have given it as herald of Spring but then we should remember that it is a creature of God’s own making and maybe, just maybe, God has given it a special role to help his poor humans cheer up as the season of new growth and life and love shows itself. It is after all, Eastertide.
[Mr G ]
Cuckoo in flight going out to sea (Photo from bird forum)
#There is a rather beautiful poem, The Cuckoo, by the 19th century poet, John Clare.
#Thanks to the people of Marsden for information about their unique festival.
#P.S. Don’t forget to plant your potatoes! If you discover why send me a note on geoffrey_connor@priest.com. You never know, I might send you a bag of crisps.
Lambs discovering the joy of sunbathing! Photo from the Lake District from my friend Gill Henwood
The Church of England commemorates Christina Rossetti today. She is known particularly as a poet and probably more popularly as the author of the Christmas carol, In the bleak Mid-winter. Tunes by Gustav Holst and Harold Darke have helped to build its reputation. No Christmas carol service would be complete without it though it has a somewhat fanciful beginning. In the bleak-midwinter, frosty winds made moan, earth was hard as iron, water like a stone and then follows a reference to snow falling on snow. That doesn’t quite fit in with the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem in the warmer climes of the Middle East but the carol was written for people who live in the Northern Hemisphere. In these parts the idea of a cold winter is not difficult to imagine though the hope for snow may remain just that! The carol raises other questions but it is probably the final verse which has the greatest appeal, for both children and adults.
What can I give Him, Poor as I am? — If I were a Shepherd I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man I would do my part, — Yet what I can I give Him, — Give my heart.
The idea of giving oneself to God at Christmas, who gave Himself to us in the Incarnation, is, after all, a response to an amazing action of God to bring salvation to His world. Christina recognizes this action of God as an act of pure Love. In another Christmas Carol, Love came down at Christmas, she ponders on this theme of Love in a deeper, spiritual way.
Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine; Love was born at Christmas, Star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead, Love incarnate, love divine; Worship we our Jesus: But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token, Love shall be yours and love be mine, Love to God and to all men, Love for plea and gift and sign.
It is not as well-known as In the bleak midwinter, though the poem was set as the text for the BBC Radio 3 Carol Competition in 2022 and so got a lot of air time on the Radio. The winning tune was, to my mind, both memorable and beautiful. I think Christina, with a life steeped in a loving experience of God expressed in poetry, might have approved.
She was born in 1830 and died at the age of 64. Her brother was the Pre-Raphaelite painter, Dante Gabriel Rosetti and she became steeped in the theological movement which was associated with this – the Anglo-Catholic expression of worship and prayer. This had led her on a journey from Evangelicalism. Her elder sister took this a bit further by becoming an Anglican nun! Many of her poems were mainly religious though some were born out of sadness of love that was never quite fulfilled in human terms. She did, however, compose poems for children, including a very popular one, Goblin Market, about two sisters who were tempted by forbidden fruit sold by Goblin merchants and what follows as a result! Christina denied this was a poem for children and, indeed, many modern commentators point out adult themes to which it alludes. She did, however, write genuine poems for children. She also wrote a book, Called to be Saints, which she subtitled ‘the Minor Festivals Devotionally Studied, which explored those saints in the Anglican calendar which were overlooked at the time. She provided a devotional reflection on each one in a poetic way which reflected the depth of her faith.
Today she has her own place in the Anglican Calendar and a greater recognition of someone who in her lifetime dealt with unrequited love and quite debilitating illness and yet with faith. She gave us poetic reflections for our own life’s journey which also reflect a love of God that produced a rich harvest.
Some of her poetry celebrated the world around her and the photo by Gill Henwood of lambs taking their ease in the Lake District, which heads this article, drew me to a verse in one of Christina’s poems, The Milking Maid …
The year stood at its equinox, And bluff the North was blowing. A bleat of lambs came from the flocks, Green hardy things were growing. I met a maid with shining locks, Where milky kine were lowing.
[MrG 27th April 2024]
Good Lord, I ask much of Thee, But most I ask to love Thee; Kind Lord, be mindful of me, Love me, and make me love Thee.
Photo by Gill Henwood : fresh soft beech leaves in sheltered vales. Little Langdale, towards Fairsnape in the Lake District.
Earth Day is kept each year on 22nd April. This is a month after Spring officially begins.In the Church Calendar it often comes somewhere between Easter Day and the Festival of Rogation. Rogation is a time set apart for prayer for the farming community and in thanksgiving for the crops, animals and all the gifts of Creation. Away from the countryside it isn’t regarded as so important in urban areas though giving thanks for all that sustains our life on earth and praying for those who work the land ought to be the business of us all.
In this season the lambs are born and this is a symbol of the new life we associate with Easter. Other signs of New life are all around us right now as, in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate Spring. My garden was all but dead and unkempt a month ago but now it is teeming with new life and is a source of great joy. Trees are coming alive with the fresh green of new growth as buds unfurl in a dusting of leaves. This is beautifully expressed in my friend Gill’s photo above. I call this the Greening of the earth again after the dormant days of Winter. I’m convinced that God’s favourite colour is Green! It’s splashed liberally across the earth from the Divine palette! Green is a particular colour of new growth.
Nature follows a cycle of creation and re-creation which is mirrored too in our human lives. On one level we move from birth to death—from Spring to Winter but on another level we are constantly being re-created and made new. This second level is, of course, the spiritual level and for us Christians, Easter is the crown of that renewed creation and creativity in our lives. One of the Easter Carols we sing celebrates this. It begins:
Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain.
The carol makes the connection between the new birth of Spring and the Resurrection of Jesus. Wheat that has lain in the dark earth suddenly bursts forth and is alive again. Jesus, laid in the grave comes forth at Easter. Love that was thought to be slain lives again as the refrain to each verse reminds us:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
Love is come again– such beautiful words to describe the Resurrection and for Christians, it is a reminder of the essence of Resurrection. Love cannot be defeated. The love of God can never be killed off. Jesus embodies that Love on earth and as our Christ he is its dispenser eternally. Love triumphs. Jesus Christ conquers all that is not love—in the world; in us. For us it is a reminder—as Spring is a reminder—that God makes and re-makes all things –makes them new again—Re-news. Easter faith is renewed faith with a real spring in its step.
But maybe you don’t feel like that. For so many at the moment Joy is the last thing they feel. In a world filled with turmoil we can’t just manufacture Joy. There is nothing worse than being at a party when everyone is enjoying themselves and you’re feeling miserable. So here’s the final verse of the Carol:
When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, Thy touch can call us back to life again, Fields of hearts, that dead and bare have been—Love is come again…
Jesus went to the depths of the tomb and he knows the dark places of our lives and our world. He is the Love who comes to us there and his touch can help us—if we let Him.
That love in our hearts should also help us to love the Planet where we live. This Earth day we have a responsibility to cherish our Planet and not pollute it. We are being asked this year to stop choking it with plastic and take responsibility for actions that we can change to stop the over use and disposal of plastic. We can celebrate the joys of Spring and enjoy all that it offers us in renewal of our lives and hopes but a deeper celebration can be found in something so simple as carrying a canvas bag to the shops and, where possible, being careful about the packaging of goods! It really is as simple as that. It is something we can all do.
[Mr G] with thanks to Gill for her photograph.
PS. one way to make a comment is by email – geoffrey_connor@priest.com
Mr G's Ponderings 