[MR] Medieval holidays links (Fwd: Aoife-Links Digest, Vol 3, Issue 4)

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Today's Topics:

1.  Medieval Holiday Celebrations  (Aoife)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message:  1
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 22:02:06 -0500
From: "Aoife"  <aoife at scatoday.net>
Subject: [Aoife-Links] Medieval Holiday  Celebrations
To: <aoife-links at scatoday.net>
Message-ID:  <001a01c4e903$ac628d10$f975bacc at pcbz6mpmt4r04r>
Content-Type:  text/plain;    charset="iso-8859-1"

Greetings my faithful  readers!

This week's links list is on Hiliday celebrations. PLEASE  share wherever an
interest can be found, and no matter what your holiday,  enjoy it!

Happy Yule

Aoife


Dame AOife Finn CL,  CP
Riverouge
Endless Hills
Aethelmearc


History Learning  Site--Medieval Christmas  Traditions
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_xmas.htm
(Site  Excerpt) The first recorded use of the word "Christmas" was in 1038
when a  book from Saxon England used the words "Cristes Maesse" in it.

Medieval  and Tudor Christmas  Courts
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/medieval/christmas.htm
(Site  Excerpt) A.A. Milne's popular children's poem,"King John", portrays
the  friendless king on the eve of a lonely Christmas, reduced to  displaying
tattered greeting cards from seasons past and wondering if,  alas, he might
count on receiving even one measly present this year. A  fitting way for one
of history's most villainous monarchs to spend the  holidays . . . but
historically, highly inaccurate. If there was one time  of year that an
English sovereign could count on being surrounded with all  the trimmings and
trappings of "fondness" and "friendship" - however forced  they might be - it
was during the Twelve Days of Christmas, which stretched  from December 25
through Epiphany (or Twelfth Night) on January  6.

On Christmas in the Middle Ages
by Nicolaa de Bracton of  Leicester
http://www.byu.edu/ipt/projects/middleages/LifeTimes/Christmas.html
(Site  Excerpt) Until the late Middle Ages, the celebration of Christmas  Day
ranked fairly low among the major festivals of the Christian world.  Twelfth
Night celebrations far surpassed the rather solemn, low key  observance of
the birth of Christ, while more festive Yule celebrations  (originally a
pagan observance) persisted into the Christian  era.

Gode Cookery's Tales of the Middle Ages:  Christmas
http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales09.htm
(Site Excerpt)  Also important in the celebration of Christmas was the
banquet, which  necessarily varied in sumptuosness with the resources of the
celebrants.  The menu varied with soups and stews, birds and fish, breads and
puddings,  but a common element was the Yule boar, an animal for those who
could  afford it or a pie shaped like a boar for more humble tables.

Stefan's  Florilegium--Yule
www.florilegium.org
(Click Celebrations to the left,  then Yule to the right. Site Excerpt from
one message): A celebration of  the winter solstice has been held since time
immemorial in the Northern  Hemisphere. Through the ages, the festival has
had many names. It is  certain that a mid-winter festival called Yule was
celebrated in the Nordic  countries well
before the year 1000. Though challenged by some scholars,  the fact that
Yule/J??/tt>
(Jo'l) was celebrated in Iceland and  throughout the Northern Hemisphere well
before the advent of Christianity  is now widely accepted. The exact date, or
dates, that Yule was celebrated  is not certain, but probably it was
connected to the full moon
nearest  to the winter solstice.

Christmas Carol  Midis
http://delongfarms.com/m_frame.html
20 downloadable Medieval Carol  Midis, with ratings. I was able to listen
without anythign special on my  computer (window media player worked just
fine, though the midis are a bit  short..

About.com: Christmas  Coronations
http://historymedren.about.com/b/a/2003_12_24.htm
(Site  Excerpt) According to his biographer and friend, Einhard, Charlemagne
was  taken by surprise when Pope Leo III popped the crown on his head  during
mass and proclaimed him Emperor. In fact, he was reportedly so angry  that he
told Einhard he'd never have shown up at church that day if he'd  known what
Leo had planned, even though the Christmas mass was a  particularly  holy
event.

Sacaea-Saturnalia
http://www.candlegrove.com/sacaea.html
(Site  Excerpt)Those Romans knew how to party. The Egyptian and Persian
traditions  merged in ancient Rome, in a festival to the ancient god of
seed-time,  Saturn. The people gave themselves up to wild joy. They feasted,
they gave  gifts, they decorated their homes with greenery. The usual order
of the  year was suspended: grudges and quarrels forgotten; wars interrupted
or  postponed. Businesses, courts, schools closed. Rich and poor were  equal,
slaves were served by masters, children headed the family.  Cross-dressing
and masquerades, merriment of all kinds prevailed. A mock  king -- the Lord
of Misrule -- was crowned. Candles and lamps chased away  the spirits of
darkness. As Roman culture became more licentious, so did  Saturnalia. You
can well imagine...

A Medieval Spanish Christmas:  Nativity through  Epiphany
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/santiago/xmas.html
(Site  Excerpt--note there are midi file son this page) On Christmas Eve  in
medieval Spanish churches a priest would dress up as a crazy old woman,  a
Greek sybil, who would prophesy the coming of Christ, sometimes singing  a
version of the Iudcii Signum translated into Latin in the 5th century AD  by
Augustine

Gode Cookery
How to Cook Medieval--Christmas  Feasts
http://www.godecookery.com/how2cook/howto06.htm
(Site Excerpt)  There are some food rules to remember when composing an
authentic medieval  feast; as the days leading up to Christmas were the fast,
or fish-days of  Advent, fish was eaten in great quantities up to and
including Christmas  Eve. (This, therefore, usually meant that fish was not
considered an  appropriate food for the post-Advent Christmas period; one
would be  considered a poor or offensive host to offer fish for a Christmas
meal!)  The practice of serving fish up until Christmas Day  survives
enthusiastically today as the modern Italian-American tradition of  a large
and extravagant Christmas Eve seafood dinner.

The Santa  Clause  Time-line
http://www.time4me.com/card/legend/SantaClaus.html
Trace how  Santa changed throught he ages, begining in 9th century Saxony.

The  Cronological History of the Christmas  Tree
http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html
(Site Excerpt) Legend  has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir
Tree to describe the  Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The converted people  began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree, as they had
previously revered  the Oak. By the 12th century it was being hung,
upside-down, from ceilings  at Christmastime in Central Europe, as a symbol
of  Christianity.

Because They Weere Included in the Miracle: Medieval  Hanukkah (Women's role
in the  celebration)
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/931209_In_the_Miracle.html
(Site  Excerpt) Several medieval commentators supplement Rashi's words  with
additional details. R. Nissim of Gerona, citing a "midrash," states  that the
daughter of Johanan the Hasmonean fed cheese to an enemy general  in order to
make him drowsy, whereupon she proceeded to cut off his head,  thereby
allowing her companions to flee to safety. He notes that this was  the origin
of the custom of eating cheese on Hanukkah. Rashi's grandson  Rabbi Samuel
ben Meir (Rashbam) identifies the heroine of the story as  Judith.

Stefan's Florilegium: Medieval 12th Night  celebrations
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CELEBRATIONS/12th-nite-msg.html
(Site  Excerpt from one message) Well, it is apparently the last day on which
you  can serve the roasted boar's head. The last verse of the carol reads:
The  boar's head, I dare well say,
Anon upon the twelveth day,
He takyth his  leave and goeth away,
Exivit tunc de patria. [He has left the  country.]

Heronter: Medieval Winter Holidays (scroll down a  bit)
http://www.heronter.org/links02.html
Long list of links, many of  which appeared in past holiday Aoife's Links
Lists

Eid al  Fitr
http://www.funsocialstudies.learninghaven.com/articles/eid.htm

Links  to images of the Magi
http://www.textweek.com/art/magi.htm

Altramar:  "Nova Stella:
a medieval Italian  Christmas"
http://www.indiana.edu/~altramar/altnova.html
(Site Excerpt)  Program summary:Christmas, 1223 ... a hermit's cave in Italy