Ojuice5001

The Saturnalia in Roman times, and the Feast of Fools in medieval times, were both festivals that turned the social order upside down. Slaves and masters switched places in the Saturnalia, and common people got to take the place of nobles in the Feast of Fools. These festivals made fun of the established order, reminding everyone that it shouldn't be taken too seriously. The biggest advances in authoritarian thought, such as the divine right of kings, took place after the Feast of Fools disappeared.

Maybe we should have our own Feast of Fools. We don't take the upper class as seriously as they do in, say, Japan, but there is a lot of tendency to let them go unchallenged. The media, politicians, high-level executives, and doctors are all taken for granted by the middle class, and maybe a Feast of Fools would help change that.

jess

Interesting idea--- but I am not sure it would work outside of academia. I really wouldn't want to switch places with my doctor for a day, y'know?

But the concept of switching should be honored--- if not in the literal switching of occupations, perhaps in the home, where children (or pets) rule the day, or in schools, or even the way people eat dinner (dessert first )

Amos

Could it be that this reversal of social order points at the reversal of order within our own mind? It would be mean that on the first six day of creation our conscious mind is master over our body and that on the seventh day of creation our subconscious mind would be its own master and the conscious mind placed subservient (enslaved) to our subconscious mind? Again, the seventh day of creation is the day on which evening did not follow the day and therefore the everlasting day from midlife until death.

Amos

sullster

Amos, come on. What does that have to do with the topic in any sense? You always have some deep system running in the mind to explain everything which happens in the real world.
Actually, your snake priests from your church destroyed such festivals so the peasant masses could go back to being docile. The black robbed manipulator snake-priests choked out the life of such festivals and welcomed the divine-right kings because they propped up the obscuritanistic theology of the midevil catholic church. Snakes.

Amos

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sullster:
[qb]
Bullshit sullster, it was the Reformation that killed it and your friend Luther destroyed the glory of our civilization!

I actually liked my post and wrote it special for you.

Amos

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: Amos ]</p>

kctan

[quote]Originally posted by Amos:
<strong>Study your RCC history properly & you'll know that the RCC killed itself.

The popes are fucking each other up & killing the world (a corner of the globe called Europe). Its either the world (a corner of the globe called Europe) or them, obviously people would choose the world (a corner of the globe called Europe).

BTW If this thing is going to the Abrahamic type thingy, could we move it please ? Mentions of the RCC & Cs are stinking up the place.

MadMordigan

[mod hat on]

sorry, dropped the ball.

Having looked over this thread, I believe that this OP may not even belong in this forum at all. Perhaps the original poster can give us a clarification on the religious aspects of this festival.

Very little more discussion about christian doctrinal disputes will be needed to convince me to move this to the Misc. Religion forum.

[/mod hat off]

Jack the Bodiless

I doubt if my cat will agree to letting me become head of the household, even for a day.

hinduwoman

I think such feasts acted as safetyvalves. the normally oppressed classes were allowed to vent their grievances against the authorities.

For example, in Jaipur city there is a feast called Gunawati festival (I think). Anyway, this night women roam the streets most of them drunk and dancing and dressing up any way they like. They are allowed to beat up any man they encounter on the streets, and strike their male relatives including fatherinlaw and husband. The men are not allowed to resist. At midnight they carry out secret worship of the goddess with a widow stripping naked --- it is said to be death for any man who watches it (I conjecture in the past the revellers actually killed such peeping Toms). In this way the frustrations of the year are avenged.

crocodile deathroll

Many pagans celebrated the biginning of the new year at around the time of the Spring Equinox March 21st and which they believed to be around April the 1st hence today is it remains as the tradition of April Fools Day. It was also the Feast of Fools.