During the Granite Guild Annual Dinner several ceremonies are carried out to mark the occasion.

 

The Ceremony of the Candles

The President lights three candles in turn, reciting the following:

  • 1st Candle: “I light this first candle in remembrance of the founder members of this Granite Guild.”
  • 2nd Candle: “I light this second candle in memory of those Guild members who have passed on.”
  • 3rd Candle: “I light the third candle for our new members for without them, the Granite Guild would not continue.”

  

The Ceremony of the Loving Cup

The ceremony of the Loving Cup is said to derive from the assassination at Corfe Castle on the 18th of March 978 of King Edward whilst he was drinking from a cup passed to him by his stepmother Elfrida.  She wanted her own son Ethelred to be King and so she set up the murder of stepson Edward; he was stabbed in the back whilst drinking from the cup which he held in both hands. Elfrida was thus successful in her foul deed: her stepson is now known as King Edward the Martyr and her natural son as King Ethelred the Unready.

It was customary for our forerunners in drinking parties to pass round a large cup, from which each drank in turn to some of the company. He who drunk, stood up and as he lifted the cup with both hands, his body was exposed, without defense from a blow. An enemy with the intention of murdering him could seize upon this opportunity, and sometimes did!

Consequently, when one of the company stood up to drink, he required the companion who sat next to him to be his pledge. If the pledge consented, he stood up and raised his drawn sword in his hand to defend the drinker whilst consuming the drink.

When you receive the Loving Cup, turn to your table companion and bow to each other, then you drink from the Loving Cup. The back of the person drinking must be protected by the person who has previously drunk, holding the sword aloft. Once you have drunk from the Loving Cup, wipe the rim with the napkin, then bow to each other and pass the cup to your companion, who turns to the person next to them to start the procedure again.

In this ceremony we are drinking to 'Absent Friends, Past and Present’.