Editing Carnival (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. 066.jpg|thumb|250px|''[[The Fight Between Carnival and Lent]]'', [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]], 1559]]

In the [[Middle Ages]], Carnival referred to a period following [[Epiphanytide|Epiphany season]] that reached its climax before midnight on [[Shrove Tuesday]].<ref name="Ruff2001">{{cite book|last=Ruff|first=Julius R.|title=Violence in Early Modern Europe 1500–1800|date=4 October 2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|language=en|isbn=9780521598941|page=[https://archive.org/details/violenceinearlym0000ruff/page/164 164]|url=https://archive.org/details/violenceinearlym0000ruff/page/164}}</ref> British historian [[John Bossy]], in writing on the origin of the practices during Carnival, states that "These were, despite some appearances, Christian in character, and they were medieval in origin: although it has been widely supposed that they continued some kind of pre-Christian cult, there is in fact no evidence that they existed much before 1200."<ref name="Bossy1985">{{cite book |last1=Bossy |first1=John |title=Christianity in the West, 1400–1700 |date=1985 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-289162-4 |language=en}}</ref> Because [[Lent]] was a period of [[fasting]], "Carnival therefore represented a last period of feasting and celebration before the spiritual rigors of Lent."<ref name="Ruff2001"/> Meat was plentiful during this part of the [[liturgical year|Christian calendar]] and it was consumed during Carnival as people abstained from meat consumption during the following liturgical season, Lent.<ref name="Ruff2001"/> During Carnival, also known as Shrovetide, people confessed (shrived) their sins in preparation for Lent as well. Shakespeare's 1601 play, ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', Scene 5 of Act 2, mentions Christians who painted their faces to celebrate the season: 
{{poemquote|
What, are there masques? Hear you me, Jessica:
Lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum
And the vile squealing of the wry-neck'd fife,
Clamber not you up to the casements then,
Nor thrust your head into the public street
To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rolfe |first1=William James |title=Shakespeare's Comedy of The Merchant of Venice |date=1911 |location=New York, N.Y. |publisher=American Book Company |page=70 |access-date=24 September 2023 |url=https://archive.org/details/merchantofvenrol00shakuoft}}</ref>}}

Traditionally, a Carnival feast was the last opportunity for common people to eat well, as there was typically a food shortage at the end of the winter as stores ran out. Until spring produce was available, people were limited to the minimum necessary meals during this period. On what nowadays is called ''vastenavond'' (the days before [[fasting]]), all the remaining winter stores of lard, butter, and meat which were left would be eaten, for these would otherwise soon start to rot and decay. The selected livestock had already been slaughtered in November and the meat would no longer be preservable. All the food that had survived the winter had to be eaten to assure that everyone was fed enough to survive until the coming spring would provide new food sources.<ref name="fenvlaanderen.be">[http://www.fenvlaanderen.be/carnaval/wat-carnaval "Wat is carnaval?" | Fen Vlaanderen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422135427/http://www.fenvlaanderen.be/carnaval/wat-carnaval |date=22 April 2016 }}. Fenvlaanderen.be. Retrieved on 13 May 2015.</ref>

Traditionally, the feast also was a time to indulge in [[sexual desire]]s, which were supposed to be suppressed during the following period fasting.<ref name="fenvlaanderen.be"/><ref name="http">{{cite web |url=http://www.isgeschiedenis.nl/nieuws/oorsprong_van_het_carnaval/ |title=Oorsprong van het Carnaval in de geschiedenis van Nederland IsGeschiedenis |publisher=Isgeschiedenis.nl |date=11 November 2011 |access-date=29 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193054/http://www.isgeschiedenis.nl/nieuws/oorsprong_van_het_carnaval/ |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Before Lent began, all rich food and drink were consumed in what became a giant celebration that involved the whole community, and is thought to be the origin of Carnival.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=30 November 2001|title=Carnival|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2507300021/GVRL?u=txshracd2597&sid=GVRL&xid=131fbf85|journal=Encyclopedia of Easter, Carnival, and Lent|language=en}}</ref>

In many Christian sermons and texts, the example of a vessel is used to explain Christian doctrine: "the nave of the church of baptism", "the ship of [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]]", etc. The writings show that processions with ship-like carts were held and lavish feasts were celebrated on the eve of Lent or the greeting of spring in the early Middle Ages.<ref name="fenvlaanderen.be"/><ref name="ziggo1"/>

The Lenten period of the [[liturgical calendar]], the six weeks directly before [[Easter]], was historically marked by fasting, study, and other pious or penitential practices. During Lent, no parties or celebrations were held, and people refrained from eating rich foods, such as meat, dairy, fat, and sugar. The first three classes were often totally unavailable during this period because of late winter shortages.<ref>Gaignebet, Claude. 1984. ''El Carnaval: Ensayos de mitologia popular''. Barcelona: Editorial Alta Fulla. Original edition: ''Le carnaval. Essais de mythologie populaire'', Editions Payot, Paris, 1974.</ref>

While Christian festivals such as [[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]] were Church-sanctioned celebrations, Carnival was also a manifestation of Mediterranean [[folk culture]]. In the Christian tradition, fasting is to commemorate the [[temptation of Christ|40 days that Jesus fasted in the desert]], according to the [[New Testament]], and also to reflect on Christian values. It was a time for [[catechumen]]s (those [[conversion to Christianity|converting to Christianity]]) to prepare for [[baptism]] at Easter.
<ref>{{CathEncy |wstitle= Didache| author=John Chapman}}</ref>

Carnival in the Middle Ages took not just a few days, but almost the entire period between Christmas and the beginning of Lent. In those two months, Christian populations used their several holidays as an outlet for their daily frustrations.<ref name="Isgeschiedenis.nl">{{cite web |url=http://www.isgeschiedenis.nl/nieuws/sociale_functie_van_carnaval_in_de_middeleeuwen/ |title=Geschiedenis van carnaval in de middeleeuwen IsGeschiedenis |publisher=Isgeschiedenis.nl |access-date=29 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195532/http://www.isgeschiedenis.nl/nieuws/sociale_functie_van_carnaval_in_de_middeleeuwen/ |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Many synods and councils attempted to set things "right". [[Caesarius of Arles]] (470–542) protested around 500 [[common era|CE]] in his sermons against the pagan practices. Centuries later, his statements were adapted as the building blocks of the ''[[Indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum]]'' ("small index of superstitious and pagan practices"), which was drafted by the Synod of Leptines in 742. It condemned the ''Spurcalibus en februario''.<ref name="fenvlaanderen.be"/><ref name="ziggo1"/>

Pope [[Gregory the Great]] (590–604) decided that fasting would start on Ash Wednesday. The whole Carnival event was set before the fasting, to set a clear division between celebrations and penitence.<ref name="Halmo1989">{{cite book|last=Halmo|first=Joan|title=Celebrating the Church Year with Young Children|year=1989|publisher=Liturgical Press|language=en|isbn=9780814615805|page=[https://archive.org/details/celebratingchurc00halm/page/79 79]|quote=Carnival is a time of revelry and excess before the dying of Lent, a time of feasting before the fasting.|url=https://archive.org/details/celebratingchurc00halm/page/79}}</ref> He also dispatched missionaries to sanctify any excesses in popular Carnival customs.<ref name="Davidson2014">{{cite book|last=Davidson|first=Alan|title=The Oxford Companion to Food|date=21 August 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=9780191040726|page=145}}</ref> It was also the custom during Carnival that the ruling class would be playfully mocked using [[mask]]s and [[disguise]]s.<ref name="fenvlaanderen.be"/><ref name="ziggo1"/>

In the year 743, the [[synod]] in Leptines (located near [[Binche]] in Belgium) spoke out furiously against the excesses in the month of February.<ref name="ziggo1"/> Also from the same period dates the phrase: "Whoever in February by a variety of less honorable acts tries to drive out winter is not a Christian, but a pagan." Confession books from around 800 contain more information about how people would dress as an animal or old woman during the festivities in January and February, even though this was a sin with no small penance.<ref name="fenvlaanderen.be"/><ref name="ziggo1"/><ref>[http://middencommiteit.be/mc/?page_id=800 Oorsprong Carnaval: Middencommiteit Lommel] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225054839/http://middencommiteit.be/mc/?page_id=800 |date=25 February 2016 }}. Middencommiteit.be. Retrieved on 13 May 2015.</ref> Also in Spain in the seventh century, San Isidoro de Sevilla complained in his writings about people coming out into the streets disguised, in many cases, as the opposite sex.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.carnavales.net/historia-del-carnaval/| title=Historia del Carnaval| date=6 November 2003| work=carnavales.net| language=es| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206031213/http://www.carnavales.net/historia-del-carnaval/| archive-date=6 February 2016| url-status=dead| access-date=31 May 2016}}</ref>