Maundy Thursday UK, civil servants were traditionally granted a half-day holiday (known as "privilege leave") on this date, but that was abolished after 2012. The tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday is an ancient practice, probably originating in Rome. and occurs among the faithful in countries around the world. In India, the custom is to visit fourteen churches, one per Station of the Cross. Traditionally, this is performed on Maundy Thursday evening but is more often done on the morning of Good Friday or on any day of Lent. Usually, whole families would participate, customarily fasting for the duration of
Royal Maundy time a Maundy recipient continued in that status for life, the surplus recipients were placed on waiting lists, and given royal charity through other means. One vacancy occurred a week before the 1838 Maundy when recipient Elizabeth Love died at the age of 110. In 1843, "The Illustrated London News" described a Maundy ceremony: On the day alluded to a certain number of poor men and women, of each the exact number of our sovereign's age, attends divine worship in the Royal Chapel, Whitehall in the morning and afternoon. Bread, meat and fish is distributed to them in large wooden