Item regularly exchanged before beginning of solemn occasions (5)
I believe the answer is:
times
'occasions' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'item regularly exchanged before beginning of solemn' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'item' is 'time' which is present in the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for times that I've seen before include "Big Apple's theatre district" , "measures the length of something" , "Square in New York" , "- - they are a-changin'" , "Occasions; multiplied by" .)