From the desk of The Dean: Michaelmas Message 2023
As the nights begin to draw in, I am reminded of the coming winter. The leaves are beginning to go brown on the trees and will soon start to fall. We will soon begin to feel that autumnal nip in the air, that cold dew in the morning, that weak winter sun. For those of us who only fly flags in daylight hours, those days are getting ever shorter. Yet in our looking forward, we can also take this opportunity to look back at the summer that has been; those glorious evenings where the sun hangs low in the sky, setting the horizon ablaze, the warm gentle summer breeze wafting across the garden, giving the flag flying atop my flagpole an almost pitiful lift.
This coming of autumn will make each of us feel differently, some of us like to snuggle down for the winter, others of us would rather the later evenings and being able to lie in bed without the need for the covers pulled up to our chins! For me, the worst part comes when we put the clocks back and the sun suddenly sets an hour earlier than normal. It is then that autumn really begins to make room for winter, and it won’t be long before I have to de-ice my car in the mornings!
This time of the year is traditionally known as Michaelmas. Many of us have probably heard of Michaelmas in the form of a term at school, or as part of the legal year. Michaelmas, like Christmas, refers to a feast; the feast, or mass, of St Michael and All Angels, is celebrated each year on 29th September. Until the 20th Century, St Michael was celebrated on this day alone, with the others having their own distinct feast days. The number of angels celebrated on this day vary from three to eight, according to the varying Christian traditions, with the main three being; Michael; Gabriel; and Raphael.
These days, perhaps more of us will be familiar with the Archangel Gabriel as the one who told Mary that she would give birth to the baby Jesus. Yet among Christians, Michael has always been seen as the chief angel because he was the one who banished Satan to lurk at the gates of hell for eternity. For this society, it is our patronal festival. St Michael and All Angels was chosen because of St Michaels patronage of soldiers and the use of flags in battle over the centuries. In Canterbury Cathedral, there is a chapel dedicated to St Michael, also known as the ‘Warriors Chapel’, where the old colours of The Royal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs), and latterly The Queens Regiment and The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment are laid up. The chapel is lined with old colours that are left simply to fade into time, they are not burnt or cut up into unrecognisable pieces because they were a gift from the sovereign, to destroy them would be disrespectful; and laying them up helps to memorialise the men who fought and died for those colours.
Michaelmas is also the day on which the new Lord Mayor of the City of London, distinct from the Mayor of London, is elected by the aldermen of the city. Furthermore, Michaelmas is still one of the quarter days for the financial year and traditionally when all accounts would be settled, debts paid, rents collected and so on. The other quarter days being 25th December (Christmas Day), 25th March (The Annunciation), and 24th June (The Nativity of St John the Baptist).
In time for our first Michaelmas as an established society, we have launched our first ever social media page on Quora which will, I hope, make us more ‘findable’ and we will look at other social media sites to document our flag flying and other information on. The benefits of our Quora space, called ‘The Society of St Michael and All Angels’, will be that people can ask questions and receive an answer in an open forum, moderated by us here at the society. It will also enable us to post information about all things flags and flag flying so please support us on our venture!
Speaking of support, the society has seen some growth in our first year and while it has not been as large as we had hoped, we are hoping that if we promote the society on other platforms, we will attract new members. I would also like to say that we encourage all current members to promote the society wherever they can and to try and attract new members wherever possible. All that is required for membership is a keen interest in flags, not necessarily a wide-ranging knowledge. As Dean, I hope that by next Michaelmas, we will have experienced even more growth as a society and that our members will join in by following our social media pages and generally promoting our society.
Some of you may also be wondering if St Michael has a flag attributed to him. He does. Some sources are conflicted, but his flag is a blue cross on a white background. It is the intention of this society to design our flag based on this and we would welcome any submissions from members for possible designs.
Finally, it falls to me, as Dean, to wish you all a very happy Michaelmas for the first time as an established society. To those who are new, welcome. To those who have been with us for a while, thank you. And to those who are thinking about joining us, or would simply like to know more, come on in.