Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
to rule-breaking, even violence, as inhibitions were reduced by an excess of drink or
drugs, or by criminal or wonton behaviours that went beyond the normal mores of
the society concerned. For example, the origin of St Bartholomew's Fair in London
lies in a charter given in 1133 to hold the event to help fund a priory. It grew from a
three day event to one of two weeks that became a major trading centre of interna-
tional importance characterized by large number of stalls, feasting, and entertainment
of various forms, and by the early modern period as the site of many musical and
dramatic events by prominent artists. But it also became notorious for its excessive
merry-making, debauchery and rioting, associations that led to its closure by the
London authorities in 1855, showing that disruptive behaviour in some modern fes-
tive events is not a product of our times. Indeed, the problem of maintaining public
order led many historic festivals to create special festival courts to issue fines and
resolve disputes before the behaviours turned to violence and disrupted the event.
Yet in some societies this transgression from the normal rules of behaviour at festival
time was often condoned for the period of the festival. This was regarded as providing
a necessary, though temporary escape value from the build-up of the pressures and
conformance to rules that constrained and limited many lives, especially in historic
cities where many lived in poverty, and faced various disasters, from pestilence to
privation and war. One example where such excessive behaviours were tolerated was
the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Originally a winter solstice celebration of the end-
ing of what was initially considered the death of the sun and increasing days of light,
which in the Roman region marked the end of the season of planting and a time for a
festival, originally to honour Saturnus, the god of seeding and sowing. But in Rome
it escaped its agricultural origins and became a festive event, usually between 17 and
23 December. This end of calendar period was seen as a time outside time, a phase of
chaos before the New Year, in which public gambling was allowed and where drunk-
enness, wonton practices and sexual licence flourished. Many of the normal rules
of behaviour were overthrown, for it included a day in which masters served slaves,
although the New Year brought a return to normal life. The romantic poet Catallus
thought it was 'the best of days' (Mueller
2010
, p. 221) while the politician and essay-
ist Seneca (Epistles 18, 3) saw it as a period in which 'the whole mob has let itself go
in pleasures', but a dangerous period in which the political order could be threatened.
Similarly, the Venice carnival in the medieval and early modern city was originally
a pre-Lenten Spring event to mark a farewell (vale) to meat (carne), fruit and eggs,
the beginning of a period of fasting. But it turned into a riotous period of celebra-
tion, parties and masked balls in which people engaged in various excesses, where
sexual licence was essentially condoned, for if it occurred during the festival no legal
recourse could be taken for the misbehaviour. In other words the festival time was
like a temporary release from normal life, although monarchs and city administra-
tions were always wary of the possibility that these festivals would lead to permanent
insurrection and took steps to prevent this possibility. By the early twentieth century
the festival had atrophied because of increasingly strict policing and the economic
decline of the city. But in 1981, Venice recreated the old aristocratic carnival as a city-
wide cultural event to boost its economy, which has now become a festival of major
international significance.
