May-June, Whit-Monday week
Throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire, England, Walking Days are an important feature of community life. Each town or village has its own parade of children from schools and churches of all denominations. Traffic is held up, the shops are closed, and thousands of spectators come from all the surrounding towns to watch the procession, which can take more than three hours to pass. The children are often dressed in white, and the girls wear veils or wreaths and carry bouquets of flowers. In Manchester, the procession takes place on Whit-Monday, while other communities usually celebrate their Walking Days on the following Friday or Sunday.
This northern English custom may have originated with the traditional "Club Walks," which were ceremonial walks to church made by various social and other groups. In Warrington, Lancashire, Walking Day is June 28—the traditional date of the Newtown and Latchford Heath Races. It was the rector of Warrington who initiated the custom in 1835 to publicize a negative aspect of the horse races: the fact that parents who lost money on the horses often brought poverty upon their children.
