Beating the bounds is an ancient custom still observed in some English and Welsh parishes. Under the name of the Gangdays the custom of going a-ganging was kept before the Norman Conquest. A group of old and young members of the community would walk the boundaries of the parish, usually led by the parish priest and church officials, to share the knowledge of where they lay, and to pray for protection and blessings for the lands.
Read more about Beating The Bounds: Ceremony, Origins, Contemporary Observations
Famous quotes containing the words beating and/or bounds:
“They lock me in this chair at eight a.m.
and there are no signs to tell the way,
just the radio beating to itself
and the song that remembers
more than I.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“At bounds of boundless void.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
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