Editing Rogation days (section)

== Christian beginnings ==
The Christian major rogation replaced a pagan [[Roman Empire|Roman]] procession known as [[Robigalia]], at which a dog was sacrificed to propitiate Robigus, the deity of agricultural disease.<ref name="magic">{{cite journal | last = Burriss | first = Eli Edward | title = Some Survivals of Magic in Roman Religion | journal = The Classical Journal | volume = 24 | issue = 2 | pages = 112–123 | publisher = The Classical Association of the Middle West and South | date = 1928 | jstor = 3289524 }}</ref><ref name="Customs">{{cite book | last = Dues | first = Greg | title = Catholic Customs & Traditions: A Popular Guide | publisher = Twenty-Third Publications | date = 1993 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/catholiccustomst00dues/page/39 39] | url = https://archive.org/details/catholiccustomst00dues| url-access = registration | quote = Robigalia. | isbn = 9780896225152 }}</ref> The practitioners observing Robigalia asked Robigus for protection of their crops from [[Wheat leaf rust|wheat rust]].<ref name="Customs"/>

The minor Rogation days were introduced around AD 470 by [[Mamertus]], [[bishop of Vienne]], and eventually adopted elsewhere. Their observance was ordered by the [[First Council of Orléans|Council of Orleans]] in 511, and though the practice was spreading in [[Gaul]] during the 7th century, it was not officially adopted into the [[Roman rite]] until the reign of [[Pope Leo III]] (died 816).<ref>{{cite journal | last = Cook | first = Albert Stanburrough | title =  Augustine's Journey from Rome to Richborough | journal = Speculum | volume = 1 | issue = 4 | pages = 375–397 | date = 1926 | jstor = 2847160 | doi=10.2307/2847160| s2cid = 162451684 }}</ref>

The faithful typically observed the Rogation days by [[Fasting and abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church|fasting and abstinence]] in preparation to celebrate the [[Ascension of Jesus Christ|Ascension]], and farmers often had their crops blessed by a priest at this time.<ref>{{cite book | last = Shepherd | first = John | title = A critical and practical elucidation of the Book of common prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the Church | publisher = Oxford University | date = 1801 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=z88HAAAAQAAJ&q=%22rogation%20days%22&pg=PA119}}</ref>  Violet [[vestments]] are worn at the rogation litany and its associated Mass, regardless of what colour is worn at the ordinary liturgies of the day.<ref name="Customs"/>

A common feature of Rogation days in former times was the ceremony of [[beating the bounds]], in which a procession of parishioners, led by the minister, churchwarden, and [[choirboy]]s, would proceed around the boundary of their [[parish]] and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year. This was also known in the northern parts of England as 'Gang-day' or 'gan week', after the old English name for going or walking.<ref name="painful"/> This was also a feature of the original Roman festival, when revellers would walk to a grove five miles from the city to perform their rites.<ref name="magic"/> [[Thomas Johnson (botanist)|Thomas Johnson]] (1633), speaking of the birch tree, mentions another name: Cross-week: "It serveth well to the decking up of houses and banquetting-rooms, for places of pleasure, and for beautifying of streets in the Crosse or Gang Week, and such like."{{sfn|Brand|Ellis|Hazlitt|1905|p=}}