The Rogation Days entry in the glossary of the Episcopal Church says, “The term is from the Latin rogatio, asking.” There is a pinch of history given, a bit of explanation about blessing of the fields at planting, and that in the U.S. an association has been made with fishing as well. There is a bare description of the liturgy with directions to where to find a complete liturgical form for Rogation Procession.
This is the Minor Rogation, which is observed on the three days before the Ascension (Ascension occurs 40 days after Easter, thus always on a Thursday. It is on May 5 this year). The Wikipedia entry for Rogation offers a more colorful historical account, stating that the custom in parts of Britain during the middle ages included carrying a banner of a dragon, said to represent Pontius Pilate, and a lion, said to represent Jesus, along with local saints. The banner of the dragon went before the procession, but at Ascension, it was relegated to the back, with the lion of the Risen Christ going ahead.
The Major Rogation is on April 25 (a day also dedicated to the apostle Mark).
Here at Holy Trinity Church, we have the tradition of a parish rogation day (and Earth Day observance) on a Saturday near April 25. We “clean up” the gardens and grounds around the building, and lavish a little care on the local environs. This year the date is Saturday, April 30.
This year, I invite us to take a closer look at the Minor Rogation. This matter of the Dragon of Pilate is easily dismissed as another incomprehensibly quaint past practice. However, if Pilate is understood to represent the exercise of the power of government, the symbolic use of the banner offers a vivid and compelling testimony of the failure of our habitual use and exercise of civil and military violence to bring about peace.
After all, how have our late 20th Century policies, uniformed in the language of dominance, fared? The War on Terror has signs of the same misdirection and lack of success in achieving its objectives as have the Culture Wars, the War on Drugs, the War on Poverty and the War on Crime.
Together with the yet earlier launch of the technological War on Nature and the genocidal Wars on Natives, these policies are appropriately symbolized by a dragon leading the way. Here in downtown Juneau, the dismal results of all this warfare are plainly visible. There is a lot of homelessness. There are plenty of behaviors associated with poverty and hopelessness: drugs, violence and disease.
Rather than warring on life and its problems, we aim to lift up the ascendancy of life. Perhaps a little extra prayer and care of creation is in order this year. A few of us will have a Rogation Procession on 4th Street, beginning in front of Holy Trinity church at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4. All are welcome to join us. Banners of dragons and lions and saints? Bring ‘em if you’ve got ‘em!
• Father Gordon Blue is the Rector at Holy Trinity Church.
