Church-ale

Church-ale, a kind of church festival in old England at which ale was drunk liberally. The name is obviously compounded like bridal = bride-ale, scot-ale, clerk-ale, bid-ale, &c. The church-ales were usually held upon Whitsuntide, and two persons were chosen beforehand to preside over the feast, and divide out the victuals and drink voluntarily contributed by the parishioners. Sometimes the drink which had been brewed from malt given by the parishioners was sold about Whitsunday at the church for the support of orphans and poor, the repair of the church, and similar objects. The practice of holding church-ales with the corresponding games was denounced by the Puritans, and is not overlooked in Stubbs' Anatomie of Abuses.