In Medieval times, why were there always so many feasts going on?

Question

In Medieval times, why were there always so many feasts going on?
In a book I am currently reading, almost every day they have a feast going on for different saints. (In this book it's around the year 1290) Why is that?
Also Note: This book is based on reality, so please don't answer saying this book is most-likely not accurate. Thank you :~)

Answer my question as in, "What was the point fo feasting all the time?!?!?!?! I mean eventually, they'd have to be overwieght!? "

Answer 1

First of all "feast" in the medieval sense meant "festival", not necessarily a big meal (although that could be a part of it). A "feast" could also include: music, singing, dancing, mummery (a kind of pantomine), tournaments, races and church services.

Secondly, the important part of the meal eaten at feast was the communal nature of it, rather the amount of food. It was a "get-together". Medieval cooks were also known for their "subtleties" which were served at feasts. A subtlety was a fancy dish - it could simply contain exotic spices, but more often a subtlety was a visual thing: one food made to look like another, a fancy pastry in the shape of a castle, a goose redressed it's own feathers for presentation at the feast, or a "pie" that was never intended to eaten - it contained a "surprise". We have a remant of this kind of subtlety in the children's nursery rhyme:

Sing a song of six pence, a pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty black birds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing.
Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before a king?

Obviously this kind of "food" was meant more for it's looks than for eating. You're not going to get fat on something you can't eat ...

Third, feasts were a way to mark the passing of the year. Not every community celebrated every single feast that was recorded. All would celebrate Christmas and Easter. Most would celebrate Epiphany/12th Night (Jan 6th), Candlemas (Feb 2), May Day/Midsummer Night, some kind of harverst feastival in August, Michaelmas (September 29), and All Saints Day (November 1).

Beyond that, feasts were local things. One town might celebrate the Feast of Saint Veronica, another the Feast of St. Crispin. It depended a lot of who the local church, school, monestary or castle was dedicated to. It might depend on the particular history of the area, or the partialities of the local rulers.

Most medieval people, although aware that every day of the year was dedicated to someone, didn't know *who* each day was for, only their local feasts.

Fourth, remember this is a society without television, movies, video games or professional sports. Feast days were entertainment as much as anything else.


Therefore, I cannot "Answer [your] question as in, "What was the point fo feasting all the time?!?!?!?! I mean eventually, they'd have to be overwieght!? " for the simple reason that they were NOT feasting all the time, and therefore, would not become overweight (for that reason - there were some overweight people in the middle ages, to be sure. The Frankish King "Charles the Fat" didn't get that name for nothing).

Also, bear in mind that even if they *could* feast (in the modern sense of over-eating) every day, they still lived in a world without modern labour-saving devices. They exercised a LOT more in just going about their daily lives than we do.

Answer 2

The nobility ate well, and the peasantry usually didn't, but you're right... there were a lot of 'special occasions' such as saints' days. And on those the peasants could even partake, though not as fully as their superiors. This was due both to the intense religiosity of medieval society and the fact that life was so difficult and mundane for most people... feasts and festivals were something to look forward to, something to make the bad times bearable.

Answer 3

Democrats were in charge and giving everything up for free. Then of course taxing after the fact.

Answer 4

What are you talking about? Are you thinking about movies and such? Don't base your knowledge about something off movies.

Answer 5

Happier times then, before Republicans.

Answer 6

in the middle ages that was how they usualy celebrated like when the king or duke came