Quiz question 1:
Is clypping
a) ensuring the churchyard is neat and tidy?
b) compiling a folder of information about the history of the building?
c) the congregation holding hands in a line stretching all around the church?
Quiz question 2:
Is rogation
a) a springtime day of prayer for a good harvest?
b) a form of ploughing?
c) the congregation holding hands and rotating around the church?
If you happen to be a pupil at Flitcham or Sandringham and West Newton Primary Academies you will probably know that the answers are 1c and 2a.
Every spring children at the schools on the royal estate celebrate Mothering Sunday and Easter – and the old rural church traditions of clypping and rogation.
Deputy headteacher Nichola Keir said: “As rural schools in the heart of the Sandringham Estate, both Sandringham and West Newton and Flitcham Primary have specific traditions harking back through generations of local farming.”
Close to Mothering Sunday, pupils, staff and parents hold hands to encircle and embrace, or “clyp” their local church – an ancient way of showing love for the mother church. Nichola said they finish with a joyful hymn.
The children also enjoy springtime rogation walks through their villages, led by Rector of Sandringham, Revd Paul Williams. Focusing on the beauty of the natural world, they end with prayers of gratitude and blessing.
Easter celebrations also embrace school and church.
“Both schools enjoy typical Easter celebrations with egg hunts, re-enactments of elements of the Easter story and a home-made Easter bonnet parade,” said Nichola.
“At Flitcham, the children are given a brief of creating a minute Easter garden scene using natural materials and these are often paraded alongside the bonnets.
“Both schools also attend their respective churches in order to share in an Easter communion service to which families are also invited.”
The schools are part of the Norwich Diocesan Educational Academy Trust (DNEAT).