Playing the Pipes for Easter Sunrise Service

[Galician]

Since I'm not familiar with the post I am assuming, but if the Verger is the one who keeps order in the congregation, that would be a vestige of the minor order of porter, hence he would have orginally been counted among the clergy.

[macwilkin]

Since I'm not familiar with the post I am assuming, but if the Verger is the one who keeps order in the congregation, that would be a vestige of the minor order of porter, hence he would have orginally been counted among the clergy.

From the Verger's Guild of the Episcopal Church:

A verger is a committed lay minister within the Church who assists the clergy in the conduct of public worship, especially in the marshalling of processions. Vergers can be full-time or part-time, paid or volunteer. Their duties can be purely ceremonial or include other responsibilities, such as parish administration, leadership of the worship committee or sexton.

A brief history of Vergers

The office of verger has its roots in the earliest days of the Church's history. It shares certain similarities with the former minor orders of porter and acolyte. Generally speaking, vergers were responsible for the order and upkeep of the house of worship, including preparations for the liturgy, the conduct of the laity, and grave-digging. Although there is no definitive historical survey of the office of verger, evidence from Rochester, Lincoln, Exeter, and Salisbury Cathedrals indicates the existence of vergers as far back as the 16th century. A familiar sight in English cathedrals, vergers have maintained the buildings and furnishings of the Church for many centuries.

--www.vergers.org

When I explain what a verger is to the general public, I make the comparison to a mace-bearer at a graduation ceremony.

T.

[highlander_Daz]

with the weather conditions you dexciribe Id be more concerned about condensation issues with Drones cutting out than what Im going to wear,

as far as head gear goes, i Always as the priest/vicar/father etc in advance if they have any objection to a Glen or Feather bonnet being worn during the playing of the pipes, and if Im wearing a Glengarry I always remove it whilst not playing. If Im wearing a feather bonnet I explain its not practical to remove it and stand to attention with pipes in a horizontal position whilst not playing. if there are objections I play bare headed,

[McClef]

Some interesting explanations going on.

Like many things the reason why an item started are not always known and yes the tonsure could well have led to cold heads - maybe a good argument for the more folliclly challenged among us to wear hats!

I must confess that I have never myself seen a verger with headwear but then again many churches do not have vergers, at least ones with ceremonial or processional functions.

And yes there is a conundrum for pipers. It isn't easy to pipe and remove headgear at the same time and where could you carry the removed headgear anyway? It would be almost as difficult with a Glengarry as a feather bonnet so discussion and agreement beforehand with the clergy would be a good idea as Daz says.