'Clipping the Church' is an English custom that is traditionally held in the United Kingdom on Mothering Sunday, Easter Monday, Shrove Tuesday or a date relevant to the Saint associated with the church. The word clipping is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and is derived from the word clyppan, meaning 'to embrace or 'clasp'.
Clipping involves either the church congregation or local children holding hands in an outward-facing ring around the church. Once the circle is completed onlookers will often cheer and sometimes hymns are sung. Often there is dancing. Following the ceremony a sermon is delivered in the church and there are sometimes refreshments. Currently, there are only a few churches left in England that hold this ceremony.
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