Ethan & The Holy Thorn

The Queen's Christmas breakfast table will bloom this year thanks to a sprig of the world-famous Glastonbury Holy Thorn cut in an age-old ceremony. My son Ethan Knight, 7, the oldest pupil at St John's infants' school, which nestles next to the church, snipped the cutting with the help of Mayor of Glastonbury.

The ceremony of sending a cutting from the thorn for the monarch's Christmas table dates back centuries. The original tree is said to have been cut down by Puritans in the 17th century, but descendants survived in other parts of the town, including the abbey grounds and St John's churchyard, where the ceremony takes place.

According to legend the young Jesus visited Glastonbury with Joseph of Arimathea, and when Joseph returned after the Crucifixion and stuck his staff into the ground on Wearyall Hill the dead stick miraculously sprouted into a thorn tree. Believers say its descendants still bloom at Christmas as a living embodiment of the Resurrection.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Glastonbury
• Holy
• Thorn
• Somerset

[Thystiepop123]

Woooooh GO ETHAN!!! Wooooooh....love from your big sis Amy xx

[sharpasaspear]

Thank you so much for sharing this

[nillhouse]

Well done Ethan, love from Andrew in class 4

[wolf6567]

Hi congratulations Ethan and well done !!!

Happy new year and lots of love to all of you from the tree people in portugal !!