Once in a Blue Moon every Preston Guild

Most people are familiar with the expression "once in a blue moon" to describe something that does not happen very often. Less familiar to those outside northern England is "once every Preston Guild".

There are 2 popular definitions of a blue moon: the older being the third full moon in a quarter (between solstice and equinox) with four full moons; the newer being the second full moon in a calendar month. By the second definition, the full moon at the end of August was blue. It also coincided with the funeral of Neil Armstrong. As an aside, my mother told me I fell asleep during the television coverage of the Moon landings, but to be fair, I was only 1 at the time.

Whichever definition you prefer, a blue moon occurs 7 times every 19 years.

A Preston Guild is an event with formal ceremonies, accompanied by processions, exhibitions and performances, the only survivor in England of the mediaeval Guilds Merchant. It takes place, as the event's publicity tells us, every 20 years. Strictly speaking, that should be every 20 years except when there is a war on - a sequence of Guilds every 20 years since 1542 was interrupted by the Second World War, with the next Guild taking place in 1952. This year saw Preston's first Guild as a City, the status having been awarded to commemorate The Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002.

The Guild Court, the main formal event of the Guild, is on the Monday after the Feast of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, on 29th August, so our blue moon neatly coincided with the start of the Guild.

As well as the formal ceremonies, some of the most visible parts of the Guild are the processions - Trade, Community, Torchlight and Churches. The last is the newest - until 1992 each of the three main churches in Preston each had their own procession. In 1992 they combined, and this year, it was expanded to include all the churches in the City and outlying areas. I was aware that the city has a strong church tradition - one possible derivation of the name is from "Priests' Town"; it is reputed to have been founded by St Wilfrid, and the emblem of the city of the Lamb of God, with the letters PP standing for "Princeps Pacem", or Prince of Peace.

However, even I was surprised by the scale of the event, with nearly 200 floats and groups of walking participants. Each of the churches or groups of churches had their own design, using the theme of The Living Christ, and incorporating the six Guild themes of Creative, People's, Merchant, Green, International and Welcome.

The participants ranged from the traditional ...

... through depictions of characters from the Bible and Christian history ...

... to a few that were a bit more colourful...

... and some bands that did not necessarily have much to do with church, but kept the parade flowing along.

Even The Queen came along, in the company of the Scouts.

The church at which I worship is not in the Preston area, but if it had been, I suspect our contribution would have been one of the more traditional processions. I might even have taken the thurible along: I am surprised none of the churches did, although as the procession took over an hour and a half, the biggest logistical problem would have been disposal of the ash.

I am not sure when the next blue moon falls so as to coincide with a Preston Guild. As the moon is on a 19 year cycle, and the Guild is every 20 years, the next time the cycles exactly coincide is in 380 years, but there are 7 blue moons in the cycle, so there may be other coincidences. These can, however, only use the definition of the second full moon in a month - the third full moon in a quarter cannot be late enough in August to fall after the Beheading of St John the Baptist and still have time for another full moon before the autumn equinox.

Some more pictures from the day, and some from around Preston can be seen here.