MAUNDY THURSDAY

Today, the Thursday before Easter, is called Maundy Thursday. In England, the Queen distributes "maundy money" to deserving pensioners, one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign's age (84 this year). The practice is said to have started with St. Augustine when he came to Britain at the end of the sixth century, and has been performed by kings since about 1300. This year the Queen will be carrying out the ceremony in my home town of Derby, which will be nice for my mum.

But what does "maundy", a word not used in any other context, actually mean? Here there are differing views. The traditional one is that it is a bastardisation of the latin word "mandatum", meaning command. The Thursday before Easter is the day of the Last Supper, at which Jesus said to his disciples "a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you" as he washed their feet. However, that seems inherently implausible, partly because of the insertion of that extra letter "u" (wouldn't it be "mandy" or "mandate", which already exists in English?), and partly because the name for the day is not similar in other languages, which also have Christian traditions. In German, for example, it is Gründonnerstag (green Thursday), so too in Czech and Slovak; in Scandinavia it is skaertorsdag (clean or pure Thursday). Nor is the name used in Scotland or Ireland, which call it Holy Thursday, the same name as that set out in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church.

A more likely explanation is that it comes from another latin word "mendicare", which means to beg, via the French mendier. The nasal "en" could well become "au". It would also would explain "maundsor" baskets, which were held out by beggars, while they "maunded". English royalty often showed their piety in the Middle Ages by distributing alms and food to the poor, and this would in turn explain the continuance to this day of the maundy money ceremony.

However, although the British queen is a great upholder of tradition, I am sure she will be grateful that not everything remains the same. Up until the reign of King James II (1685-88) the monarch on Maundy Thursday also washed the feet of 12 selected poor people, in imitation of Christ's act. Thankfully, that is no longer part of her duties.

Walter Blotscher