g pre-Christian survivals, considering the saints as successors of pagan gods andheroes, taking over their curative and protective functions. Magic was also considered apagan remnant: the Protestants accused the Catholics of practising a pagan ritual byclaiming that certain holy places held magical powers and could cure people.The reformers denounced the rituals they didn't find fitting as being irreverent andblasphemous. Carnival and the charivaris were considered "the work of the devil",because it made a mockery of certain godly elements the Church held sacred. Thereformers thought people who didn't honour God in their way to be heathen, doomed tospend their afterlife in eternal damnation. Flamboyance was to be chased out of allreligious aspects of culture, and, where possible, out of all other aspects of life, accordingto the Protestant doctrine. In some areas, gesturing during church services was banned, aswas laughter. All these things were seen as irreverent, making a mockery of religion.All these changes were introduced in order to create a sharper separation between the'sacred' and the 'profane'. The ecclesiastical authorities were out to destroy the traditionalfamiliarity with the sacred because "familiarity breeds irreverence."The objection against popular recreations stemmed from the idea that they were 'vanities',displeasing God because they were a waste of time and money and distracted peoplefrom going to church. This objection was shared by both the ecclesiastical and civilauthorities. The latter mainly objected because it distracted the populace from their work,which in turn affected the revenues of the leading upper classes, or from other activitiesthat were benefiting the rich, reasons that would vary per region.Catholic and Protestant reformers were not equally hostile to popular culture, nor werethey hostile for quite the same reasons. Protestant reformers were more radical,denouncing festivals as relics of popery and...
