unit 1: what was the importance of carnival?

Question 1

pageants and festivals

Answer 1

> associated with ecclesiastical or farming festivals
occasional for excess (before lent esp)
midsummer, may day, all fools day
took place in centre of a village/town
procession usually with people dressing up etc
most festivals were provided by guards: sponsored processions feasts and special masses
rulers and great lords staged their own festivals: banquets, knightly jousts and literacy etc

Question 2

carnivals

Answer 2

> began in january/february
‘pleasure of the flesh’; eating, drinking, dancing and sexual pleasure - men and women swapped clothes/servants became masters
carnival festivals - masks, costumes. produced more conceptions
‘the feats of fools’ ; december/january
it went under different names: england ‘day of the boy bishop’ ‘abbot of unreason’ ‘feast of fools’ or ‘misrule’ in france and germany
eating, drinking, cross dressing and singing songs, mocked priests, put on robes backwards, danced and drank in churches

Question 3

opposition to festivals:

Answer 3

> saints as successors to pagan gods, abolish festivals, feasts and processors. angry - perverted by boisterous festivals and drunkeness
misdemeanours were harshly treated - humiliation. serious crimes were punishable by death
scholar max gluckman said the rites of carnivals was a safety valve
natalie zenon davis more than just a safety valve
german lawyer sebastian brant considered drinking, gaming and dancing as the ruin
overstepping, taking punishments too far. ridicule/humiliated tactics were used - usually rebellious targeted. protestants oppose saints day