ring Midsummer's Eve was a remnant of a ritual from the pre-Christian period. Fireand water, symbols of purification, could be seen as the tools of St. John the Baptist, andtherefore a combination of the two elements of popular and ecclesiastical culture wasobvious. It looks as if the Medieval Church took over the festival and made it theirs. Thesame thing happened to the Midwinter Festival, which became linked with the birth ofChrist, on 25 December. There are many more examples to be found, such as theconnection between St. Martin and geese caused by the fact that the St. Martins Day (11November) coincided with the period during which the people used to kill their geese inthe period preceding the Christian period.Carnival plays a special role in popular culture in Early Modern Europe. It is a greatexample of a festival of images and texts. It was a popular festival, taking on differentforms in different regions of Europe. Aside from regional variations, these differenceswere also caused by factors such as the climate, the political situation and the economicalsituation in an area.On a whole Carnival started in late December or early January and reached its peak uponapproaching Lent. The actual feast, taking place at the end of the festive period, couldtake days and would usually involve large quantities of food and drinks. The festival tookplace in the open air in the centre of a town or city. Within a region, the way Carnivalwas celebrated varied from town to town. The festival was a play, with the streets as a stage and the people as actors and spectators.They often depicted everyday life scenes and made fun of them. Informal events tookplace 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 ofCarnival, and people wore masks and fancy-dress. There was verbal aggression, insultswere exchanged and satirical verses wer...
