Decani

{{Short description|Side of a church choir occupied by the Dean}}

{{Other uses|Dečani (disambiguation)}}

File:Evensong in York Minster.jpg

File:Decanus Praecentor Lincoln Cathedral.jpg

Decani ({{IPAc-en|d|ɪ|ˈ|k|eɪ|n|aɪ}}; Latin: 'of the dean') is the side of a church choir occupied by the Dean.{{cite book|last=Latham|first=Alison|title=The Oxford Companion to Music|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-866212-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198662129/page/345 345]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198662129/page/345}} In English churches, this is typically the choir stalls on the south side of the chancel. The opposite side is known as Cantoris.{{cite web |title=Decani vc. Cantoris |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2013/5-july/news/uk/decani-v-cantoris |website=The Church Times |accessdate=1 March 2020}} The abbreviations "Dec." and "Can." are used. {{cite web |last1=Ashley |first1=Martin |title=Where have all the singers gone, and when will they return? Prospects for Choral Singing after the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic |url=https://www.abcd.org.uk/storage/Choral_Directions_Research/Where_have_all_the_singers_gone_publication_version.pdf |publisher=Association of British Choral Directors |access-date=29 April 2024 |page=21 |quote=e.g. just Dec or Can on alternate days}}{{cite journal |title=Morning and Evening Canticles |journal=Quarterly News Sheet |date=April 1928 |volume=1 |page=3 |url=http://www.rscm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/AboutUs/SECM01.pdf |access-date=29 April 2024 |publisher=School of English Church Music |quote=Verses are allotted to full choir, Dec. and Can.}}

The association of the Dean with the south side has propagated from the Sarum (now Salisbury Cathedral) liturgical norm, a practice that then propagated through pre-Reformation England and Wales.{{cite web|last1=Hughes|first1=Gareth|title=Pass Decani on the Gospel Side: and other adventures in spiritual choreography|url=https://christhum.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/pass-decani-on-the-gospel-side-and-other-adventures-in-spiritual-choreography/|website=Ad Fontes|accessdate=14 June 2016|date=19 May 2016}} There are some notable exceptions in the monastic cathedrals, where the senior cleric under the bishop was the prior; he often sat on the liturgical north. Hence, in Durham Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, St Davids Cathedral, Carlisle Cathedral, and Southwell Minster, decani is on the north.