Whit Friday

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Whit Friday
Whit walks Manchester.jpg
The 2010 Whit walks in Manchester on Cross Street showing the banner and clergy from Manchester Cathedral.
Observed by North West England
TypeChristian, Public
ObservancesProcessions, Parades, Brass Band Contests
Begins1st Friday After Whit Sunday
Date Ordinary Time
2021 date28 May
2022 date10 June
2023 date2 June
2024 date24 May
Frequencyannual
Related to Whit Sunday, Whit Monday, Whit Tuesday, Trinity Sunday

Whit Friday, meaning "white Friday", is the name given to the first Friday after Pentecost or Whitsun (White Sunday).

Contents

The day has a cultural significance in North West England, as the date on which the annual Whit Walks are traditionally held. By convention, the Whit Walks coincide with brass band contests, held in Saddleworth, Oldham, Tameside and other outlying areas of Greater Manchester. Traditionally, children and their supporters from Anglican Sunday Schools 'walked' on Whit Monday, those from RC Sunday Schools on Whit Friday, [1] and there was an element of competition in general display, dresses and banners. Outside Manchester city centre, other Sunday Schools walked on Whit Sunday and in surrounding towns on other days during (or in the weeks following) Whit Week. This period marked the height of their year's activities for many local brass bands.

History

The Feast of Pentecost, which falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter, is an important feast day in the Christian Church. In the United Kingdom this was followed by a week of festivities called "Whitsuntide". As the population moved away from the countryside during the Industrial Revolution, the celebrations became less important in many areas, but in the manufacturing towns of North West England they were seen as a welcome break from work in the mills and factories. In an article in the Manchester Times in 1859 the London correspondent wrote:

Whitsuntide is not a great holiday week with us, as with you...indeed, we have now no amusements appropriate to this season. We used to have fairs but these degenerated into nuisances and were properly enough suppressed in the interests of public morality and decency...although a good number of well-to-do Londoners take advantage of the week for a cheap trip, the mass of the populace work and toil through the week, which you Lancashire people have so well and wisely reserved for recreation. [2] - The Manchester Times

Manchester traditionally held its annual horse races on Kersal Moor between the Wednesday and Saturday of Whit Week. The local Sunday School Superintendents worried about the gambling and drinking and "desiring to keep youth of both sexes from the demoralising recreations of the racecourse, took them to fields in the neighbourhood and held anniversary celebrations, tea parties etc. in the schools." [3]

During the nineteenth century Whitsuntide became an accepted holiday week for all, with the mills shutting down and the workers taking canal boat trips and later, with the coming of the railways, cheap rail excursions. [3]

Whit walks

Members of Westwood Moravian Church, Oldham, Lancashire, taking part in a Whit Sunday parade some time in the 1920s Westwood Whit Walk.jpg
Members of Westwood Moravian Church, Oldham, Lancashire, taking part in a Whit Sunday parade some time in the 1920s

The origin of the whit week processions of "Sunday school scholars" (which are still held to this day) dates back to 19 July 1821 when there was a procession of the children of Manchester to commemorate the coronation of George IV. On that day children of all denominations walked in procession from their schools and assembled at Ardwick Green to sing "God Save the King". From then on the annual festival flourished and, in the course of time, St Ann's Square became the assembly ground. The numbers continued to grow and this was moved to Albert Square in 1878. [4] Each Whit Friday, local churches or chapels in the region employed bands to lead traditional processions through the streets. Whit Friday was the "Scholars' Walk", or the Church's Annual Day when the girls would have a new dress and the boys would have new trousers, and neighbours, friends and relatives would give a penny for their new clothes. The church officers, clergy and children carried baskets of flowers or ribbons attached to banners. [5]

Brass band contests

A brass band contest has been held in Stalybridge on Whit Friday since at least 1870. However, on Whit Friday 6 June 1884, two further events in Uppermill and Mossley were held, [6] inadvertently launching an internationally renowned and unique brass band occasion - the Annual Whit Friday Band Contests. The Whit Friday contests are now firmly placed in the brass band calendar and attract thousands of people, whether musicians or spectators, to listen to brass band music. The bands' discipline, stamina and organisational skills are tested to the limit. Each of the contests on the Whit Friday circuit is organised by a dedicated committee who organise their own contest prizes.

Contests

The contests are split between Saddleworth and Tameside. The following localities have held brass band contests on Whit Friday: [7]

Saddleworth:

The Denton Brass Band, Top Mossley, 2008 Denton brass.jpg
The Denton Brass Band, Top Mossley, 2008
A participant in a Whit Brass Band contest, Top Mossley, 2008 Tuba Player, Whit Friday 2008.jpg
A participant in a Whit Brass Band contest, Top Mossley, 2008

Tameside:

See also

Related Research Articles

Whitsun Name for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost

Whitsun is the name used in Britain, and throughout the world among Catholics, Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples. In England it took on some characteristics of Beltane, which originated from the pagan celebration of Summer's Day, the beginning of the summer half-year, in Europe. Whitsuntide, the week following Whitsunday, was one of three holiday weeks for the medieval villein; on most manors he was free from service on the lord's demesne this week, which marked a pause in the agricultural year. Whit Monday, the day after Whitsun, remained a holiday in Britain until 1971 when, with effect from 1972, it was replaced with the Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May. Whit was the occasion for varied forms of celebration.

Tameside Borough of Greater Manchester, England

The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge. Its western border is approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Manchester city centre. Tameside is bordered by the metropolitan boroughs of Stockport and Oldham to the south and north respectively, the city of Manchester to the west and the borough of High Peak in Derbyshire to the east across Longdendale. As of 2011 the overall population was 219,324.

Stalybridge Human settlement in England

Stalybridge is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census. Historically part of Cheshire, it is 8 miles (12.9 km) east of Manchester city centre and 6 miles (9.7 km) north-west of Glossop.

Ashton-under-Lyne Market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England

Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, 6.2 miles (10.0 km) east of Manchester.

Mossley Human settlement in England

Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Oldham and 8.9 miles (14.3 km) east of Manchester.

Saddleworth Human settlement in England

Saddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets as well as suburbs of Oldham on the west side of the Pennine hills.

Greenfield, Greater Manchester Human settlement in England

Greenfield is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England.Ir is 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Oldham, and 13 miles (21 km) northeast of Manchester. It lies in a broad rural area at the southern edge of the South Pennines. To the east of the village Dovestone Reservoir, Chew Reservoir and Greenfield Reservoir lie in the Peak District National Park.

Friezland Human settlement in England

Friezland is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It is situated four miles east of the town of Oldham.

Delph Human settlement in England

Delph is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies amongst the Pennines on the River Tame below the village of Denshaw, 4.0 miles (6.4 km) east-northeast of Oldham, and 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north-northwest of Uppermill.

Carrbrook Human settlement in England

Carrbrook is a village in the east of Stalybridge, in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, England. The area still has many seventeenth and eighteenth-century buildings. Much of the late-nineteenth and the early-twentieth-century village was built during the industrial boom brought by the printworks. In the 1970s modern Housing estates were built next to the old village on the lower flank of Harridge Pike. The view to the east of Carrbrook is dominated by the steep-sided Buckton Hill, on the summit of which is located Buckton Castle. Neighbouring communities include Millbrook, Heyheads and Mossley.

Diggle, Greater Manchester Human settlement in England

Diggle is a village in the civil parish of the Saddleworth in Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. The village is situated on the moorlands of the Pennine hills.

BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester.

The Fairey Band is a brass band based in Heaton Chapel in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The band has achieved fame in modern music circles with its appearances playing Acid Brass although they still play traditional brass band music and participate each year in the Whit Friday Brass Band contests.

Scouthead Human settlement in England

Scouthead is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It is traversed by the A62 road, and occupies a hillside amongst the Pennines.

Dobcross Human settlement in England

Dobcross is a village in the civil parish of the Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It is in a valley in the South Pennines, along the course of the River Tame and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, 4.2 miles (6.8 km) east-northeast of Oldham and 13 miles (21 km) west-southwest of Huddersfield.

Denshaw Village in Saddleworth, Greater Manchester

Denshaw is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies by the source of the River Tame, high amongst the Pennines above the village of Delph, 4.6 miles (7.4 km) northeast of Oldham,3.3 miles (5.3 km) north-northwest of Uppermill and Shaw and Crompton. It has a population of around 500.

Ashton-under-Lyne bus station

Ashton-under-Lyne bus station is a bus station that is located in the town of Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, run by Transport for Greater Manchester. The bus station is situated on Wellington Road and adjoins the Arcades Shopping Centre. The bus station was opened in 2020 and replaced the previous bus station that was built on the current site.

The Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Brass Band is a brass band from Poynton in Cheshire, England. As one of the North-West's premiere brass bands, Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Band is well known for its original and entertaining concert programmes, as well as being a prize-winner at contests throughout the country.

References

  1. C. Bevan, The Edited Diaries Winchester, Piccowinch, 2004)
  2. Anon (18 June 1859). "From our London correspondent". The Manchester Times. Manchester, England.
  3. 1 2 Anon. "Whitsuntide and the Whit Walks". Link4life. Rochdale: Rochdale Borough Cultural Trust. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  4. Anon (26 May 1899). "Church of England and Sunday schools procession". Manchester Times. Manchester.
  5. Carrbrook Whit Friday Band Contest
  6. The First Recorded Contest, Extract from the Stalybridge Reporter, 1884
  7. Brass Band Reference – Whit Friday Marches – Whit Friday Brass Band Contests
  8. Saddleworth and Oldham Area Contest, 2007 Results
  9. Carrbrook Whit Friday Band Contest
  10. Whit Friday Band Contest, Mossley