Canterbury Hop Hoodening

Where: Canterbury, Kent at the Cathedral & Precincts
When: 2nd Saturday in September
Time: 10.30am with service in the Quire of the Cathedral at 11am, followed by dancing throughout the day around the town

 

Hop Hoodening is the Kentish harvest festival celebrating the local crop, so important to the brewing industry. There is a special service at Canterbury Cathedral; expect morris men accompanied by musicians and a host of hops from the local harvest. The  Hop Queen will arrive amidst a bower constructed of hop-bines and accompanied by her attendants the Hop Princesses; the participants process behind Queen and clergy into the Cathedral. During the service one group of morris dancers perform in front of the altar, blessings are given and appropriately autumnal hymns are sung. Afterwards there’s dancing by each side in the Cathedral precincts, then the dancers separate into groups for plenty more dancing at locations around town. There’s a High Street Procession during the afternoon and the day is rounded off with mass performances from the reunited dance sides.

Helpful Hints

In 2025 it should be on Saturday 13th September (to be confirmed).

Dancing tours follow around the city (check links below for up-to-date timings etc).

It’s free to attend, though a collection is taken in the service for Cathedral good causes, and street collections are made on behalf of the festival. It’s nearly always sunny, I have been assured, and it certainly followed that trend in 2019. If you want to be sure of getting a seat for the service, arrive in plenty of time and enter the cathedral ahead of the procession.

Click here for Wantsum Morris: http://www.wantsum-morris.org.uk

Click here for the East Kent Morris website : http://ekmm.org.uk/NEW/

Click here for the Cathedral website and put hop hoodening in the search box : http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/

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