History Of Popular Culture

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in a big festival of 'Dranck,
pleijsier ende vrouwen' (Drink, fun and women) at the end of the Carnival
period, preceding the period of Lent.

Festivals were meant to take the minds of the people off their everyday
life , off the hard times and their work. Everyday life in Early Modern
Europe was filled with rituals, both religious and secular. Songs and
stories played an important role in their lives, although they sometimes
adjusted the details of the legends and stories to fit the way they thought
a certain festival should take place.
Popular culture was mixed with ecclesiastical culture in many ways. The
story of St. John the Baptist is a good example of this. The ancient ritual
of bathing and lighting fires during Midsummer's Eve was a remnant of a
ritual from the pre-Christian period. Fire and water, symbols of
purification, could be seen as the tools of St. John the Baptist, and
therefore a combination of the two elements of popular and ecclesiastical
culture was ...

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and the people as
actors and spectators. They often depicted everyday life scenes and made
fun of them. Informal events took place throughout the Carnival period.
There was massive eating and drinking, as a way of 'stocking up' for Lent.
People sang and danced in the streets, using the special songs of Carnival,
and people wore masks and fancy-dress. There was verbal aggression, insults
were exchanged and satirical verses were sung.
More formally structures events were concentrated in the last days of the
Carnival period. These events took places in the central squares and were
often organised by clubs or fraternities.
The main theme during Carnival was usually 'The World Upside ...

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