Feastdays and other Weird Celebrations

Feastdays were an important part of the medieval person’s life. The times of the day might have been tolled in church bells, but the seasons were marked by these special days. On these occasions, citizens would make an effort to be in church for these feasts as something special. Though the medieval person was exhorted to come to mass, the average citizen was not required to attend each and every Sunday and feastday, but only those pertinent to either the area, parish, event, or kingdom. Certain feastdays drew more folk, like Easter—a more important celebration than Christmas. Since calendars were only for clerics and the elite, one might mark the time of year by saying that such and such a thing occurred a sennight after Michaelmas (one week after September 29th). But besides these religious feasts, there were also local celebrations, some quite entertaining and strange to us today. I’ll touch on a few of those, as well. (We are, of course, centering on England here.)

New Year’s Day, 1 January—even in the Julian Calendar, this was still the New Year.

Plough Sunday or Plough Monday—this is the first Sunday after Jan 6, or the Feast of Epiphany or the Feast of the Magi. This is the beginning of the agricultural year, so important to all. It is the day work is resumed on the farm. The Plow Guild would go from house to house asking for contributions toward the Plough Light that would be kept burning in the church throughout the year, no doubt stemming from a far older pre-Christian tradition to keep the dark days of winter away. The Reformation did away with this ancient tradition.

Candlemas, 2 February—the feast of the Purification of the Virgin and the blessing of the church candles.

St. Valentine’s Day, 14 February—the first day birds mate. Important to courtly love in the Late Middle Ages.

Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday, Lent Eve, Ash Wednesday Eve—all the fat in the household—butter and such—was to be consumed by this day and it was a day of confessions (to be shriven) before the solemn penitential days of Lent were to begin.

Lent—forty days of penitence before Easter, excluding Sundays. No flesh, fowl or butter is consumed during this time. There are no indulgences granted, no weddings.

All Fools Day, 1st April—between midnight and noon, one was to make a fool of someone or send them on a fool’s errand.

Palm Sunday—Sunday before Easter when Jesus made a triumphal arrival into Jerusalem. "Willow wands were used for this procession as these were the only plant advanced enough in growth this time of year." And palms—potted or otherwise--were unknown on the British Isles at this time.

Good Friday—the Friday before Easter. Day of penance.

Easter—festival of the risen Christ or Resurrection Day. Yew boughs are hung indoors and decorated. Pace Egging—that is, rolling colored eggs down hillsides—was something fun for everyone. The rolling of the egg symbolized the rolling away of the stone of Jesus’ tomb. The egg is an ancient symbol of resurrection and renewal, going back to Hebrew days in the desert. “Pace” derives from Paschal or Passover.

St. George’s Day, 23 April—holiday declared in 1222. Patron saint of England and many other places. Very important saint of the middle ages.

May Day, 1st May—May poles erected in village greens brought in by oxen with nosegays attached to their horns. Much dancing and merry-making.

Rogationtide—fifth week after Easter week. Litany of the saints are recited the three days before Ascension Day. A good time to do the tracing of the boundaries of the parish. Again, pre-Christian roots. Processions holding willow wands, peeled white and crowned with flowers. Stopping at crosses to give litany of rogation, imploring God to send seasonable weather.

  Whitsun—seventh Sunday after Easter. Pentecost. The coming of the Holy Ghost and the "birthday" of the Church--White Sunday, where people where white garments for purity and especially if they are to be baptized.

Midsummer Day, St. John’s Eve, 24 June—longest day from sunrise to sunset, summer solstice. Another good excuse to have a bonfire. Pre-Christian roots. "A monk from Shropshire in the fourteenth century noted three types of St. John’s Eve fires: the bonfire made of bones intended to drive away evil; the wake fire built with wood, the focal point for celebrations; and the fires composed of both bone and wood, fulfilling both functions."

St. Swithun’s Day, 15 July—A Bishop of Winchester (862). He liked the rain and requested to be buried outdoors so the sweet rain could fall upon his grave. When he was translated to an indoor shrine in 971, it rained for forty days. Lore has it that if it rains on St. Swithun’s day, it will rain for forty days and nights thereafter.

Lammas, 1st August—“Loaf mass”. Consecration of loaves made from first ripe corn (grain). Also a good time to offer first communion with the first bread.

St. Bartholomew, 24 August—patron saint of beekeepers and honey-makers. The Blessing of the Mead happens on this day.

The Harvest—usually in rural areas. Make a manikin from stalks and march around with it. A seven day festival. Corn babies made from the best sheafs and dressed like a baby. Again, pre-Christian traditions here.

Michaelmas, 29 September—Feast of the Archangel Michael

All Hallows Eve, 31 October—the vigil of All Saints Day. Another good excuse for bonfires, chestnut roasting, apple eating.

All Saints Day, 1st November—(or All Hallows Day or the Festival of Martyrs) Celebrating all the saints, especially the martyrs (because what medieval person doesn’t appreciate a particularly gruesome death?)

All Souls Day, 2 November—for ALL the departed, including special prayers for those in purgatory.

St. Martin’s Day, 11 November—St. Martin of Tours, a reluctant soldier but later became a monk and bishop. One of the few medieval-favored saints not martyred, benevolent St. Martin is remembered for rending his cloak and offering half to a naked beggar.

St. Cecelia’s Day, 22 November—Patron saint of song

St. Catherine of Alexandria, November 25—patron saint of potters and wheelwrights and lots of other things. One of the very popular martyred saints in the middle ages.

Advent—a penitential season like Lent, awaiting Christmas

Christmas Eve, December 24—A day for hanging evergreens indoors: ivy, cypress, laurels, rosemary, bay, boxwood, holly, mistletoe. A “kissing bough” of evergreens fashioned into a crown and hung from the ceiling under which one would be kissed. This was an extension from simply using mistletoe (which is pre-Christian winter solstice stuff.)

Christmas Day, December 25—midnight sacrament. Lighting large logs of ash sprinkled with corn (grain) and cider. Traditional Christmas dinner was a boars head with rosemary and bay. For poorer households, a goose, with plum porridge (breadcrumbs soaked in wine with spices and raisins or other dried fruit.) Turkeys arrived from Mexico in 1542 and were a very expensive treat.

St. Stephen’s Day or Boxing Day, December 26—St. Stephen was first martyr to Christ. Alms boxes (hence “boxing”) are opened and distributed to the poor.

Twelfthnight or Epiphany, 6 January—end of the 12 days of Christmas. Celebration of the Magi. Decorations are removed, for the season is over.

Now, how about some of those fanciful festivals still celebrated in Great Britain!

Haxey Hood Game, 6 January—It originated in the thirteenth century when "the hood of Lady de Mowbray blew away as she was riding home from church. The thing was retrieved by twelve laborers. This so amused m’lady that she granted a piece of land—still known as the Hoodlands—to the village. The rent: pay for a leather hood to be contested for annually in perpetuity by twelve men dressed in scarlet. The game, as it is played today, involves twelve men (“Boggans”). There is a “King” and a “Fool”, all of whom wear colorful costumes." (For all we know there is a “Bludger” and a “Snitch” as well.) It involves 12 canvas hoods being tossed to the crowd, you catch them, eluding the Boggans, and reach the nearest inn whereupon the lucky chap receives a shilling. When the leather hood is thrown a general melee ensues involving much drinking afterward.

Cheese-rolling, Spring—Just like it sounds. In Brockworth, for some reason, rolling a cheese down a hill and having contestants chase it, maintains their 500-year-old grazing rights. The winner keeps the grass-encrusted cheese and a small money prize. No doubt so he can buy a new cheese.

St. Briavels Bread and Cheese Tossing, Whit Sunday—Not to be outdone by those Brockworth cheese chasers, the people of St. Briavels in Gloustershire have what is believed to be "the oldest unbroken custom in the county." After Whitsun evening service, the vicar throws small cubes of bread and cheese from the church. It used to be done in the church itself, but the party-poopers in 1860 thought this unseemly inside a church and insisted it continue outside on the road. This allows the village to retain the right to gather wood in Hudnalls Wood.

Midsummer Day in London—"An annual fine of a red rose, to be presented personally to the Lord Mayor, was imposed on Sir Robert Knollys in 1346 when he built a small bridge over Seething Lane to connect two of his properties without permission."

Pig-Face Day, 14 September (Holy Cross Day)—When "Empress Matilda fell in love with the lord of Avening and was rejected, she had him put in prison where he died. Regretting her action, she had a church built and attended its consecration in 1080. Afterwards she gave a feast of wild roast boar." These days, after evensong “pig-face sandwiches” are served. (Kind of cheating here, but it is a great name for a feast.)

Egremont Crab Fair, 18 September—since 1267. Oddly, the fair has nothing to do with any eight-legged creatures, but more to do with crab-apples. It marks the end of the agricultural year.

Quit Rents Ceremony, 21st October—takes place at the Law Courts. "The City Solicitor pays the Queen’s Remembrancer a billhook, a hatchet, and two faggots of wood for some land in Shropshire called the Moors, though the location of this land is no longer known. A second payment consists of six horseshoes and sixty-one nails, paid annually since 1234 for the site of an old forge near St. Clement Danes church."

Tichborne Dole, 25 March—The villagers of Cheriton and Tichborne in Hampshire receive flour on Lady Day under an 800-year-old bequest. "On her deathbed, Lady Mabella Tichborne requested to her husband to bequeath some land for an annual distribution of bread to the poor. He consented to give as much land as she could walk around carrying a burning faggot before it extinguished. Nice guy. She managed to crawl around an area of over 20 acres. The land, still known as the Crawls, was set aside for this purpose and the distribution has been made ever since." Don’t you wish he choked to death on a crust of bread?

Oh, there are so many more! But we don’t have room for them all here. Suffice it to say, England was rife with many rich traditions that have disappeared and some which have mercifully reappeared through the foresight of enterprising individuals. Go out there and make your own rituals, people!

*Some of the wonderful pieces here came direct from Discovering English Customs and Traditions by Margaret Gascoigne, Shire Books.

Comments

[Brenda M. Cook]

Dear Jeri,
(You may recognise me from Med Rel] One or two minor - very minor - tweaks needed to your list of feastdays.

The week from Palm Sunday to Easter Day is Holy Week and a lot more happens/ happened that you imply.

The THURSDAY is Maundy Thursday. Suggest you hunt up the British Monarchy website and find out what HM the Queen does on Maundy Thursday! This is a VERY sanitised version of what all the great lords & landowners did in the MA - at the main Mass of that day - demonstrated their piety by washing the feet of 12 poor beggers - real ones. Yer genuine mediaeval down-and-outs. In addition these would be provided with cast-off clothes and food after the service. It commemorates when Christ washed his disciples' feet during the Last Supper.

Good Friday is THE penitential day and even quite ordinary people would have fasted and attended church services.

You say "Whitsun - seventh Sunday after Easter (Ascension Day)"

Er, not exactly.
Ascension Day is always on a Thursday and is exactly 40 days after Easter. It is the commemoration of Jesus' ascent into heaven.

Whitsunday is a week-and-a-bit after Ascension Day and commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit (Ghost) to the disciples. In a sense it is the Church's Birthday. A popular Day for Baptisms and Confirmations - hence the white clothes. It is also the end of the part of the year which follows the Life of Christ. The intervals and timing are based very firmly on information given in, or deduced from, the Four Gospels of the New Testament. The rest of the year commemorates other things

The Sunday after Whitsunday is Trinity Sunday and the following Thursday is the Feast of Corpus Christi - which is a VERY IMPORTANT mediaeval Feast Day. It is the one on which the Mystery and Miracle Plays were performed. You MUST research THIS one! Check out the Ludus Coventriae, the Townley Cycle &c

Also please note the Quarter Days. These were important not just to lawyers and such but were the days when payments of all kind fell due, sep. payments to servants: They are Dec 25; March 25; June 25; Sept 25th

Note the Dec 25 is Christmas Day, March 25th is Lady Day (The Feast of the Annunciation - an important Marian Festival and exactly 9 months - of course!! - before Christmas Day.) June 25th sometimes gets associated with St John the Baptist and moved to June 24th; September 25th gets associated with Sept 29th - St Michael & All Angels - Michaelmas.

Check out also ALL the feasts of the Virgin Mary, very important in the MA, not just the Annunciation (Mar 25), but her Nativity (Dec 8) and her death / Assumption (Aug 15)

You can't emphasise too much how important the church was in the lives of mediaeval people. It was there from before birth to after death in a BIG WAY!

Hopes this helps a bit - you are doing a great job,

Brenda.

[Jeri Westerson]

Well Benda! Thanks for the extra info. That made article part two! There is sooo much to say about it, isn't there. I wanted to touch on but a few. And thanks for the corrections, too. Honestly, stuff I really should know better.