Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-03-01
HISTORIC RESUME.
Ancient and Modern saturnaIia.

that our nature delights in imitation,
and perhaps in nothing more than in
repre- senting percentages different from
ourselves, in mOckeTy of them. Chill
dren discover this propensity, and the
populsce, who are the children Of soci-
ETY., through all ages have been hunOr-
ed by their governors with festivals and
recreations, which are made up OF this
malicious transformation of persons aud
things; and the humber orders Of sOci-
ETY. have been privileged by the higher
to please themselves by buIlesQuing and
ridjculing the grCa., at short seasons as
home consolation for the rest of the
year. Macrobius, who could not decide
as to the Saturnalia Of the Romans, ev.
identity inclines to the opinion that this
institution was derived from the Greeks,
though, for al we know, it may have
arisen in more remote period nfantiqui.
ty and among other nations, for in Glib
bon's Miscellaneous Works, vol. v, p.
5O4, the traces of this custom are so
found, and according TO Huet, timilar
ussges were seen by him in the jubilee
of the Hebrews a solemn festival Of an
agricultural people, but devoid of hid
eous features. These festivals, which
according to tradition and the romance
OF history were dedicated to Saturn, and
encouraged licentiOus sway for time
being, the Upsetting OF socisl conven-
tiOnslties, q violation of its principles,
and the public r;dicule of the cOmmu-
nity's customs, feelings aud laws, for
the purpose Of illustrating, and DOUBTLESS
in a popular sense, the equality which
characterized the golden age" This,
however, created an erroneous idea OF
equality for the slave, exchanged rela-
tive position with his master-a false
idea, which, by the assls ance of ambi-
tiOus and designing men, resulted in
political ssturDalis, travelled through
centuries, and at later day threatened
Europe with ruin by making slaves
mEsters. This idea, like that which de.
clares that "all men are born equal"
foTgets how It1equoly many grOoO, and
is no less untrue than the accepted ard
prevalent saying, "every man has 8
right to his own OpiniOn"-a So ing
which cODfers "a right" without impos.
ing duty-snd thereby, in the failure to
create a corresponding obligation, de.
monstrates its own sbsurdity; for ones
Gown opinion" is often wrong, Injurious.
Perhaps the condition OF the mole
thickly populated districts of the south,
since the war, is the only real illustTa.
ton OF the result OF political ssturra-
lis, for m RsteTs became slaves, and elsves
were masters. The true cause of the
origin of the Roman Saturnalia, which
were fiD2lly extended through a week
of debsuchery, fun and folly, will never
be known, but is hidden in the mist of
tradition, like the mythology ofsntiquity
itself. Seneca, Epistie Is, gives some
thing as to the laws OF the saturnalia of
i'll I Eok
Pitiscus explains that IS the priests
p rfOrmed sacrifices to Saturn barehead-
ed, so do the priests now become bald
headed. The sdturn0Lid crept into the
offices and services Of the Christian
church, whence came the fsasts Ct the
aas, the feast CT fools or madmep, JeteS
des JOuS-the feast Of the bulI--of the
innocent, and that of the sOudidcres,
supposed to have originally mesnt Sub
deacons, merely" but Illustrating their
conduct pictured by the change of a pun
into SoUdidcreS or diGcTeS sGOuLs, drunk
en- deacons. Du Gauge notices. number
Of these 'grotesque, prcf4ue licentious
fessts" in his GlOSssry-F5StuDl AsjpO.
meme, R1lendG C5TUuia-whiie the
Atbe Antigny has an interesting
assortment in the fourth aud seventh
volume of his Memories d. Historic
Again, Du Raider, in his Recreati07aS
HtstOTiyueS (vol. J, r. 109), in noticing
several writers upon the subject, mar
rates one Oh "the hunting OF a man
called Adam from Ash Wednesday to
Holy Thursday, and treating him with
a good supper at night, peculiar to g
town in Saxony." In Ancillon's
MeIGage CritiQue ia found the passage
Of Raphael de Volterra at length, and in
Turner's second volUms of the History
of England is to be s3en an ent, rtain-
ing and strange note on the sui set.
Not only were these profane festivals
universally praeticed in the middle
ages" but TO acOmparative extent even
in modern times; and even the people OF
England, if We are to rely on historic
accounts, have "keenly participated in
these irleligious fooleries." l. is well
written that, in
THE FEAST OF ASSES,
an ass covered with saeerdctal robes
wss grave'y conducted to the choir,
where services were reformed before
the quadluped, and hymn chanted in
as discOrdRnt manner as they could con.
trive, the Office being a medley OF all
that had been sung in the course of the
J
heads of the chsnters, the ass was SUP.
piled with drink and prOvender at every
division of the service, and the dsiHiaes
were drinking, dancing and brSyiDg for
two dsys. The hymn TO the ass is yet
eXtsut, each staDza ending with the
burden
"Hez! Sire ADe, hez!7
(Huzzs, Seignor ASS, huzzaD On other
occ ssiOns, we are told thai the people
put burnt eli shoes to fume in the CEN
soIs, ran about the church, leaping,
dancing and singing Obscenely, scatter
ing objects OF disagreeable odor
among The sudience, and played dice
upon the <Sr, while a boy bishop
pope Of fools bUriesqued the divine ser
vice. Sometimes they disguised them.
selves in the skins of animals, and, pre-
tending to be transformed into the ami
NAL they represented, it became dan
gerOUs to meet these abandoned fools.
There wSs moreover q ETece1ltOer Of fools,
who was shaved in public, during which
he entertained the popUl ace with all the
balderdash his wit could suggest. In
the year l4l5, q gluttOn mass was held
in Leicester, duripg the five days OF the
festival Of the Virgin Mary. The peo-
pie rose esr,y 10 mass, during which
they practiced eatiI z and drinking with
the most jealous velocity, and, as in
France, drew from the corners of the
altar the rich puddings placed there. In
regard TO the
FEAST OF THE INNOCENCE,
as late as 1885, q pupil of Gassendi, in
writing to him what he had observed of
its celebration at AK, says: ~ have
seen in some mona steTies in this prov
ince, eXtTavsgances solemnized which
the psgaus would not have piacticed.
Neither the clergy, nor the guardians,
indeed, go to the choir on this day, but
all Is given up to the lay. brethren, the
cabbage the errand-bcys, the
cooks and solutions, the gardeners; in a
word all the menisls fill their places in
the church, and insist that they perform
the offices proper for the day. They
dress themselves with ell the sacerdots |
ornaments, but torn to rags, or wear
them inside ont; they hold ia their
hands the books reversed or sideways,
which they pretend to cad with specta.
cles without glasses, and to which they
fix the she ls Of EcOOped oranges, which
render them so hideous, that one must