clip the church

From Old English clyppan (“to hug, to clasp”).

clip the church (third-person singular simple present clips the church, present participle clipping the church, simple past and past participle clipped the church)

1. (historical) To hold hands in an outward-facing ring around a church, an ancient English custom traditionally observed by local communities on Easter Monday, Shrove Tuesday, or the church's saint's day.
   • 2015, Felicity Trotman, A Year in the Life of Victorian Britain:

     In its revived form at Edgmond it constitutes part of the annual “feast” of the parish schools. The charity children clipped the church in Birmingham.