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Feast of Fools "By the twelfth century, some of [the] clergy had developed a custom which (to certain of their superiors all too obviously) evoked the anarchic spirit of the ancient Saturnalia ... This was the Feast of Fools, or of Asses ... At its inception it was an exercise in humility on the part of the higher clergy, whereby they handed over to the lowest the leadership in religious ceremonies at the time of the New Year Feast. Soon, however, it spread backwards into the holy days between Christmas and the New Year and began to involve burlesques of the same rites." (R. Hutton, SotS, p. 99) Robin Hood and the Bishop Then Robin he took the Bishop by the
hand, "Come, sing us a mass," sayes
bold Robin Hood, Robin Hood took the Bishop by the hand, |