Rushcart

The rushcart ceremony (derived from Rogationtide) is an English tradition where parishioners process around their parish once a year, bearing rushes.

Each village would try to outdo the others by building a bigger or more elaborate structure with the front covered by a sheet decorated with tinsel and artificial flowers and hung with polished copper, brass and silver household items.

Behold the rush-cart, and the throng Of lads and lasses pass along: Now, view the nimble morris-dancers, The blithe, fantastic, antic prancers, Bedeck'd in gaudiest profusion, With ribbons in a sweet confusion Of brilliant colours, richest dyes, Like wings of moths and butterflies- Waving white kerchiefs in the air, And crossing here, re-crossing there, And up and down, and everywhere: Springing, bounding, gaily skipping, Deftly, briskly, no one tripping: All young fellows, blithe and hearty, Thirty couples in the party ...  — From The Village Festival by Droylsden poet Elijah Ridings.

[4] The coming of the railways led to a decline in interest in Rushcarts as the local population were able to travel further afield for their annual break.

In the nearby township of Chorlton cum Hardy, the ceremony took place on the eve of the last Sunday in July though very little is known about how long it continued to be observed.

It was part of the Fallowfield Wakes celebrations and often included Robin Hood and Maid Marian seated on a pile of rushes heaped upon a farm cart.

The cart was accompanied by the sound of pipes, penny whistles, clogs being used to beat time on the ground, and the shouts of the people.