No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
XXI. Some Remarks on the ancient Ceremony of the Feast of Fools, and on a sculptured Girdle worn at its Celebration. By Francis Douce, Esq. F.A.S.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
Extract
During the early ages of Christianity, when the minds of men were yet under the dominion of their prejudices for the pagan superstitions, it had become necessary on the part of those who held the reins of civil and ecclesiastical government, either to endure the practice of certain ceremonies and amusements to which the common people had been long accustomed, or to substitute others in their stead, which bore at least some resemblance to them. One of the most ancient of the latter kind, and which appears to have been the greatest favourite, was that known by the appellation of the Feast of the Calends. It had arisen out of the Roman Saturnalia, and resembled in a great degree the excesses of a modern carnival. Amidst various other absurdities men ran through the streets disguised as old women, and even as brute animals, whence this ceremony has been sometimes distinguished by the names of Vetula and Cervula.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1806
References
page 225 note [a] Ducange Gloss. med. & inf. Latin. Voce Cervula. Lebeuf, recueil de divers ecrits, tom. I. p. 280.
page 226 note [b] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, &c. Plate XVI.
page 227 note [c] Du Tilliot Mem. de la Fête des Foux. p. 7.
page 227 note [d] Ducange Gloss. Voce Kalendre. Mem. de l'Acad. des Infer. tom. VII.
page 227 note [e] Goojet. Biblioth. Franc. tom. X. p. 376.
page 227 note [f] Ambrosii, Novitii. factor. factor. lib. XII. Romæ 1547.
page 228 note [g] Ovid. fasti II. 1 513. Plutarch. quæst. 89.
page 228 note [h] This Pagan custom was a long time imitated in France on the 22d of February, the feast of St. Peter's chair, when the sepulchres of the dead were covered with victuals, and the churchyards profaned with scenes of riot and debauchery. Many of the councils prohibited these excesses.
page 229 note [i] Further particulars may be found in Ducange Gloss. V. Kalendæ. Durandi rationale divin. offic. in sesto innocentium. Diction. Hist. des Mœurs, v. Fête. Dartigny, Mem. de Litterature, tom. IV. p. 278. and tom. VII. p. 68. Varietés historiques, tom. I, p. 457. Deslyons, paganisme du roi boit, &c. Du Tilliot, passim.
page 230 note [k] Du Tilliot, p. 61.
page 231 note [l] Brown fasciculus rer. expetend. II. 331.
page 231 note [m] Dugdale Monast. Angl. tom. III. par. 2, p. 7.