Jersey Battle of Flowers Jersey Battle of Flowers The Jersey Battle of Flowers is an annual carnival held in the Channel Island of Jersey in the second Thursday of August. The festival consists of music, funfairs, dancers, majorettes and a parade of flower floats alongside various street entertainers. It was inaugurated in 1902 to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. The largest attendance to date is thought to be that of 1969 when 60,000 people were present. Current spectator numbers are around 20,000. The major floats are usually produced by the parishes of Jersey. The 'Battle' itself originally consisted of
Carnival in the Netherlands Holy Innocents (Childermas), commemorating the Christians martyrs in Bethlehem. However, in 1445 the Church attacked the excesses of Carnival, issuing a number of prohibitions and drafted a letter, which included the following: The theologians conclude their letter stating that they do not even want to mention the worst things that take place during the carnaval. The role of the lower clergy, however, gradually got taken over by laymen. That is not to say that therefore there was no longer shrove Tuesday or fools bishops, and donkey popes and donkey bishops. The laity started to play the roles of the dignitaries