Our Rogation Sunday Campaign

Join our 2025 Rogation Sunday campaign

From the Latin, rogare, meaning ask; rogation is the festival that marks the blessing of the land to bring forth good yield.

For centuries, parish communities have observed Rogation Sunday as a time to seek blessings both for the land's bounty and collective wellbeing. Rooted in the Middle Ages, this tradition involves procession, outdoor prayer, and the ancient practice of ‘beating the bounds’—walking the parish's boundaries or visiting its sacred sites (e.g. wells, sacred trees, high places and landmark boulders): a 'parish pilgrimage'.

This year on Sunday, 25th May, we will be offering grants of £250 - £500 to churches around the country who wish to celebrate Rogation in a way that brings people together.

These festivities are about community, warmth and hospitality

Rogation is an invitation to step outside—to pray not only for the land but for the entire community: the parish and its footpaths, fields, pastures, woods, gardens, orchards, tools, seeds, crops, plants, animals and people.

Everyone is welcome, always. Those who attend church and those that do not. This is an opportunity to revive an ancient practice in a way that resonates with today. In this way, it aligns with our own charity's own bring your own beliefs ethos.

To support the campaign

• Make a donation via PayPal.
• Email us to request our bank details.
• If you have questions or need further help, email us at hello@britishpilgrimage.org.

To apply for a grant

• Please complete this form.

Thank you.

The Ancient and Evolving Tradition of Rogation

Rogation dates back to at least the late 5th century, with its observance formally mandated across Anglo-Saxon England in 747 AD. Traditionally, Rogation processions sought divine blessings for the land, marking boundaries and offering prayers for agricultural success and protection.

However, Rogation has never been solely about territorial boundaries. Instead, it can be understood as an engagement with spiritual boundaries—a way of interacting with the relationship between humans and the natural world. Processions did not merely walk parish lines; they visited sites of sacred power in the landscape that had been woven into Christian tradition, such as holy wells, sacred trees, and landmark boulders.

The functions of Rogation are diverse yet interconnected:

• Prayers for the safety and success of a community
• Marking out a parish or spiritual territory
• Processions between spiritually significant sites
• Blessings for newly planted fields and communal outdoor spaces

While walking the entire parish boundary remains a known practice, Rogation can just as meaningfully take place around a churchyard, a local park, a farm, or other communal spaces.

Symbols and Offerings in Rogation Liturgies

Several rituals from the Anglo-Saxon tradition enrich the observance of Rogation. One ancient practice, recorded in the Æcerbot ritual, involves weaving crosses from natural materials and planting them at the edge of fields or gardens. A Brigid’s Cross, traditionally woven from rushes or reeds, would be especially fitting for revival today.

Other meaningful offerings in a Rogation service could include:

• Money – representing tithes and regular offerings
• Bread – ideally home-baked, symbolising sustenance and community
• Wine – a simple table wine, connecting the earthly and the sacred
• Soil – presented in a wooden or earthenware bowl, symbolising the land’s fertility
• Water – in a clear vessel, reflecting the purity and necessity of life-giving water
• Seed – a collection of seeds, either loose in a bowl or packaged, to be blessed for future planting
• Crosses – small wooden, reed, or paper crosses, carried and blessed as part of the procession

Rogation for Today

By reclaiming these practices, Rogation can once again become a deeply communal and inclusive occasion, blending the rhythms of ancient tradition with contemporary environmental and spiritual awareness.

This summary is based on Nick Mayhew Smith's book "Landscape Liturgies: Outdoor worship resources from the Christian tradition".