Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday and Thursday of Mysteries) is the Christian feast, or holy day, falling on the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels.
The liturgy held on the evening of Maundy Thursday initiates the Easter Triduum, the period which commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ; this period includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and ends on the evening of Easter. The mass or service of worship is normally celebrated in the evening, when Friday begins according to Jewish tradition, as the Last Supper was held on feast of Passover.
Use of the names "Maundy Thursday", "Holy Thursday", and the others is not evenly distributed. What is considered the normal name for the day varies according to geographical area and religious allegiance. Thus, while in England "Maundy Thursday" is the normal term, this term is rarely used in Ireland or Scotland in religious contexts. The same person may use one term in a religious context and another in the context of the civil calendar of the country in which he lives.
The Anglican Church of England uses the name "Thursday before Easter" in the Book of Common Prayer, and "Holy Thursday" as an alternative name for Ascension Day. But outside of the official texts of the liturgy, Anglicans sometimes apply the name "Holy Thursday" to the day before Good Friday.
The Roman Catholic Church, even in countries where "Maundy Thursday" is the name in civil legislation, uses the name "Holy Thursday" in its official English-language liturgical books.
The United Methodist Church uses the name "Holy Thursday" in its UM Book of Worship, but in other official sources it uses both "Maundy Thursday" and "Holy Thursday".
Both names are used by other Christian denominations as well, including the Lutheran Church or portions of the Reformed Church. The Presbyterian Church uses the term "Maundy Thursday" to refer to the holy day in its official sources.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the name for the holy day is, in the Byzantine Rite, "Great and Holy Thursday" or "Holy Thursday", and in Western Rite Orthodoxy "Maundy Thursday", "Holy Thursday" or both. The Coptic Orthodox Church uses both the terms "Maundy Thursday" and "Covenant Thursday" for the holy day.
In the Maronite Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church, the name is "Thursday of Mysteries".
"Maundy Thursday" is the official name in the civil legislation of England and the Philippines.
The day has also been known in English as Shere Thursday (also spelled Sheer Thursday), from the word shere (meaning "clean" or "bright"). This name might refer to the act of cleaning, or to the fact that churches would switch liturgical colors from the dark tones of Lent, or because it was customary to shear the beard on that day, or for a combination of reasons. This name is a cognate to the word still used throughout Scandinavia, such as Swedish "Skärtorsdag", Danish "Skærtorsdag", Norwegian "Skjærtorsdag", Faroese "SkÃrhósdagur" and "SkÃrisdagur" and Icelandic "SkÃrdagur". Skär in Swedish is also an archaic word for wash.
Most scholars agree that the English word Maundy in that name for the day is derived through Middle English and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John 13:34 by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. The phrase is used as the antiphon sung during the "Mandatum" ceremony of the washing of the feet, which may be held during Mass or at another time as a separate event, during which a priest or bishop (representing Christ) ceremonially washes the feet of others, typically 12 persons chosen as a cross-section of the community.
Others theorize that the English name "Maundy Thursday" arose from "maundsor baskets" or "maundy purses" of alms which the king of England distributed to certain poor at Whitehall before attending Mass on that day. Thus, "maund" is connected to the Latin mendicare, and French mendier, to beg. A source from the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod likewise states that, if the name was derived from the Latin mandatum, we would call the day Mandy Thursday, or Mandate Thursday, or even Mandatum Thursday; and that the term "Maundy" comes in fact from the Latin mendicare, Old French mendier, and English maund, which as a verb means to beg and as a noun refers to a small basket held out by maunders as they maunded.
The Maundy Thursday celebrations in the United Kingdom today involve the Monarch (since 1952, Queen Elizabeth II) offering "alms" to deserving senior citizens (one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign's age). These coins, known as Maundy money or Royal Maundy, are distributed in red and white purses. This custom dates back to King Edward I. The red purse contains regular currency and is given in place of food and clothing. The white purse contains currency in the amount of one penny for each year of the Sovereign's age.
Since 1822, rather than ordinary money, the Sovereign gives out Maundy coins, which are specially minted 1, 2, 3 and 4 penny pieces, and are legal tender. The service at which this takes place rotates around English and Welsh churches, though in 2008 it took place for the first time in Northern Ireland at Armagh Cathedral. Until the death of King James II, the Monarch would also wash the feet of the selected poor people. There is an old sketch, done from life, of Queen Elizabeth I washing people's feet on Maundy Thursday.
This year, April 5, 2012, at York, with the Archbishop of York:
The Archbishop of York, the second prelate of England (after the Archbishop of Canterbury), is originally from Uganda, in acknowledgement that the Anglican Church in Africa has been growing much faster than the Anglican Church on its home grounds.
The younger woman with H.M. the Queen is Princess Beatrice, daughter of Prince Andrew, the Queen's second son, the Duke of York.
To mark her Diamond Jubilee, the Queen handed out purses to 172 people - 86 women and 86 men (for each of the Queen's 86 years) - from all of the UK's 44 Christian dioceses. Usually, they are given to citizens of just one diocese.
According to BBC, people could be seen toasting the queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Beatrice, with champagne in windows overlooking the street. Crowds cheered when she emerged from the church after the hour-long service.
York Minster, dedicated to St. Peter.
Now, whereas I think Canterbury is the "best" of all the cathedrals of England, York Minister has to be the most awesome. This is a poor picture, but I wanted to show its length (although Liverpool Cathedral is actually longer). York Minster is big, long, clean, and sleek, perhaps the height of medieval artistry in architecture.
Damn, it's awesome.
York, in the North of England, shared some of the Roman Catholic primacy of England from circa 600 until 1535; it's not a bishop there, but an archbishop, just as with Canterbury. York was actually older than Canterbury, but Canterbury was located nearer the centers of population and commerce, in southeastern England, while York was way far north.
The Archbishop of Canterbury remains the "Primate of England," and the Archbishop of York remains the "Primate of All England," to this day, but the former title is considered superior to the latter title.
