Ascension Thursday

I may have missed mentioning the feast of the Ascension. Or maybe not. It depends on where you, dear reader, are reading this. Here in the Archdiocese of the City of Our Lady of the Angels, Ascension Thursday comes on a Sunday. This year, that's the day after tomorrow. Most other places in the world Ascension Thursday comes, mirabile dictu, on a Thursday.

So in honor of the feast, the following from Danaher's The Year in Ireland:

A little ceremony from County Kildare is noted in "The Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society", 1906-08, 445:

“The sixth Thursday after Easter Sunday is the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord; it is observed as a holy-day, and blessed water procured from the priest is brought home from chapel, and poured out in the four corners of a farmer’s holding, or a labourer’s garden, to ensure good crops.”

Since the weather was usually fine, this was a day much favoured for outdoor games and pastimes. At Callan, County Kilkenny, Amhlaoibh O Suilleabhain noted in 1835:

“The 28th. Ascension Thursday, a holiday of obligation. A fine, cheerful, blueskied, bright, sunny morning with some light woolly cloud and great calm Hurling and cock-fighting and a long dance called ‘High gates’ and a cricket match on the fair green.”