King's Day

The King’s Day is a red letter full holiday in Great Nortend jointly celebrated annually on the Christian festival of Whitsun or Pentecost on the fiftieth day after Easter. As such, it is a moveable holiday, although it always falls on a Sunday. Under the name of „King’s Day”, the holiday celebrates the kingship of the Sovereign of Great Nortend, the monarchy, dynasty and the kingdom. During the reign of a queen regnant, the holiday is called the Queen’s Day.

History

Pentecost was traditionally associated by the Jews with the birth and death of King David, and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the civil rulers in the Book of Numbers and upon King Saul in the first Book of Samuel. This association continued into Christianity with the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and the sacrament of holy Confirmation. In mediaeval Nortend in particular, Whitsun developed into a day of recognising the right of civil authorities who have been set by God to rule over their dominions, expressly calling to mind the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the sovereign at his coronation with the singing of the hymn „Come Holy Ghost” which is sung throughout Whitsun Week.

Already in the 15th and 16th centuries, there was a growing association between confirmation in the Church and the oath of liegeance to the Crown taken by children when they came of age. After the Small Schism in 1614, this became stronger and formally promoted by the Crown and churchmen who saw membership in the national church essential for subjects of the Crown under the principle of cuius regio, eius religio.

The day was not, however, formally proclaimed as one in honour the Crown until 1817. Edmund VII had recently acceded to the throne as the head of the House of Anthord after the end of the Olnite dynasty at the death of the immensely popular Catherine I. Edmund’s ministers had arranged for lavish celebrations both in thanksgiving for the reign of Catherine and for the reign of Edmund and the restoration of the House of Anthord in 1815 and 1816.

They enriched an existing week-long period of festivities during the octave of Whitsun. Te Deums in honour of the coronation were ordered to be sung on Whitsun in church, and special prayers written for the occasion. The festivities proved highly popular, and were formalised by a proclamation in 1817 that the day of Whitsun be kept for ever with prayers and thanksgiving for the King and his Dominions.

In 1863, for the Jubilee of Edmund VII, the King’s Day was marked by long and festive processions with music and banners after end of the Whitsun mass through the streets throughout the kingdom. The King held a fete and staged a mock mediaeval tournament, held at Hameford Castle, culminating in a fireworks display in the evening. Similar festivities persisted after the jubilee year, and the King’s Day processions and parades soon became a fixed staple of celebrations, although the fetes, tournaments and pageants merged with the existing fairs, races and public entertainments held on Whit Monday, Whit Tuesday and through Whitsun Week.

In 2019, the King’s Day celebrations centred on the 500th anniversary of the first king of the House of Anthord, William II, who acceded to the throne in 1519.