Step we gaily, on we go
Heel for heel and toe for toe!

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,
   And led him to merry Barnsdale;
He made him to stay and sup with him that night,
   And to drink wine, beer, and ale.

"Come, sing us a mass," sayes bold Robin Hood,
   "Come, sing us a mass anon;
Come, sing us a mass," sayes bold Robin Hood,
   "Take a kick in the arse, and be gone."

Robin Hood took the Bishop by the hand,
   And he caused the music to play,
And he made the Bishop to dance in his boots,
   And glad he could so get away.