Basic HTML Version
6
City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
Of Markets & Supermarkets
By the time the Sistine Chapel opened in Rome, in
London’s Smithfield the Bartholomew Fair had been an
annual event for 350 years. It had begun as a three day
Cloth Fair drawing tailors and drapers from all over the
country and it was opened each year by the Lord Mayor
on the eve of the feast of St. Bartholomew - 24 August.
The Lord Mayor would open the fair by cutting the string
on the first bale of cloth to be sold. This tradition is
remembered in the name of the Hand & Shears pub that
has stood on the narrow street which is still called Cloth
Fair and it lives on today as the ribbon cutting ceremony
beloved of town mayors and supermarkets. Or so they
say. I choose to believe this but I did come across an
American website that gives a bit of a different spin on
the origin of the ribbon cutting ceremony.
“
This is particularly a European historical ceremony.
It dates back to Arthurian times when the ribbon was a
symbol of unity or bondage. When it was cut serfs were
freed, women allowed to leave an unhappy union, and
girls were given away by their fathers to be married.”
Arthurian times indeed! And nightingales sang in
Berkeley Square. I should coco. As it happens Hermione
Gingold was married to the chap who wrote that song,
but I digress.
The Americans have certainly taken the ribbon cutting
ceremony to their hearts.
Indeed it is an industry.
f New
Hampshire can supply you with a
Supreme Gold Grand
Opening Kit.
Each kit comes with a pair of 36" black
ceremonial scissors with gold blades, a 3' x 20' stretch
of red carpet, 2 polished brass stanchions, your choice of
ribbon and two ceremonial bows! You can't go wrong!
All yours for $798. I expect you could save a lot of money
if you had your own stanchions. If we British approach
the art of the orderly queue with a religious fervour then
the stanchion is its sacred architecture. Perhaps you could
borrow some stanchions for the day of your Grand
Opening from your local bank or perhaps the information
desk at your local supermarket.
Mrs. Thatcher cuts the ribbon to open the M25 Motorway
in October 1986. (See The Kettle May 2012)
The Piggly Wiggly