The Mediaeval Feast of Fools was held between Christmas and Epiphany, particularly on New Year's Day- the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord. The Chief location of the festivities was the church itself, and the principal organisers were the lower clergy. The ruling idea of the feast was the inversion of status and the performance by inferior clergy of duties normally carried out by their superiors. The celebrations were relics of the ancient ceremonies of birth and renewal which took place at New Year and involved a temporary overturning of all values.
The Feast was widely celebrated throughout Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches in France, and rather less in England, Flanders, Germany and Bohemia. Most of the customs can be traced back to ancient pagan festivals like Saturnalia and the January Kalends, but what of the Ass, a widespread feature of the festival? It likely a mixture of Celtic, Roman and Christian traditions, for the Ass is at once a relic of ancient magical cults, a fertility symbol, a symbol of strength and the epitome of stupidity. The feast of Epona, goddess of horses, asses and mules, was held in December close to Kalends, when all her creatures rested; and in the Christian world the asses were rested on Christmas Day. The Church authorities attempted to sanctify the spirit of play at the Feast by diverting the revellers' energy to the ludi of the Miracle play variety, and here the presence of the ass was justified- carrying the Virgin to Bethlehem and Egypt, and standing beside the Christmas crib.
In a time when there were no such things as secular holidays, the Feast of Fools was a church-approved form of the modern "April Fool's day"- a chance for all to let off steam and give folly its annual outing. As the theological Faculty of Paris argued in 1440, defending the Feast of Fools, even a wine vat would burst if the bung-hole were not opened occasionally to let out the air!
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This page created by Edward Yong