“There are a good many fools who call me a friend, and also a good many friends who call me a fool.”
—G. K. Chesterton
Among the scattering of winter holidays, both sacred and secular, there is nothing quite like the medieval Feast of Fools, an event once loathed by both Catholic and Protestant alike for its biting satire, ridiculous excesses and heathen trappings. This popular feast for centuries involved the occupation of a cathedral by peasants, boy bishops and livestock under the direction of a Lord of Misrule or Abbott of Unreason, usually on or about the Feast of the Circumcision (January 6). Celebrants wore costumes, cross-dressed or sported mock-clerical garb. Other features of this unusual celebration included the burning of old shoes instead of incense, gambling on the cathedral steps, and incredible inebriation. Much of the appeal of the farcical feast comes from its social and clerical inversions which ostensibly date back to the Roman Saturnalia, a week-long pageant during which slaves, at least ceremonially, ruled over their masters and everyone took a holiday. This pastime was so popular that even crazy Caligula Caesar was unable to mitigate the festivities.
THESE NEW OLD TRADITIONS 