ROYALTY WASHING THE FEET OF THE POOR.

Western Star, Issue 374, 21 August 1880, Page 9 (Supplement)

ROYALTY WASHING THE FEET OF THE POOR.

Holy Thursday in 1880 was celebrated with the customary solemnities at the Court of Vienna, the Emperor and Empress respectively washing the feet of twelve of the oldest and poorest men and women in the city. These decrepit personages are dressed in a costume or kind of pilgrim’s robe of brown cloth, bordered with violet color’, of precisely the same fashion and material as it was in the days of Maria Theresa. The men sit on one side of a long table, and the women are similarly placed at another. The Emperor and Empress, accompanied by all the Archdukes and Archduchesses, and followed by the members of their civil and military households, station themselves at the head of his and her table, and their relatives stand behind each of the old people, whose feet they uncover in turn, while their Majesties moisten them with a damp towel and wipe them scrupulously dry. A banquet of four dishes for each person is then brought in by twelve Trabans in scarlet uniform, which the Emperor himself takes from the salvers and arranges before hia guests, who, however, only sniff the savoury odours in his presence. They then all make their adieux, each receiving from the imperial hands a purse of violet-coloured silk containing a few gold and silver coins. On arriving at their poor homes each old person has his or her share of the banquet brought by two of the gorgeously apparelled Trabans in a basket bearing the arms of the House of Hapsburg, and flanked by two bottles of good wine, one red and the other white. They are thus able to call together their friends and neighbours and enjoy the unwonted fare with infinitely more gusto than if they ate it in restraint within the palace. —Society (London).