Posted on 01/14/2018 5:51:45 AM PST by harpygoddess
The Feast of the Ass (Latin: Festum Asinorum or asinaria festa, French: Fête de l’âne) was a medieval, Christian feast observed on January 14, celebrating the Flight into Egypt.
It was celebrated primarily in France, as a by-product of the Feast of Fools celebrating the donkey-related stories in the Bible, in particular the donkey bearing the Holy Family into Egypt after Jesus‘s birth.
A girl with child on a donkey would be led through town to the church, where the donkey would stand beside the altar during the sermon, and the congregation would “hee-haw” their responses to the priest.
Mass was continued, and at its end, apparently without awakening the least consciousness of its impropriety, the following direction (in Latin) was observed:
In fine Missae sacerdos, versus ad populum, vice ‘Ite, Missa est’, ter hinhannabit: populus vero, vice ‘Deo Gratias’, ter respondebit, ‘Hinham, hinham, hinham.’
(At the end of Mass, the priest, having turned to the people, in lieu of saying the ‘Ite missa est‘, will bray thrice; the people instead of replying ‘Deo Gratias’ say, ‘Hinham, hinham, hinham.’)
Translation of a contemporaneous hymn for this feast at the link.
(Excerpt) Read more at vaviper.blogspot.com ...
Theatrical representations of Scripture history were originally intended to impress religious truths upon the minds of an illiterate people, at a period when books were not, and few could read. But the advantages resulting from this mode of instruction were counterbalanced by the numerous ridiculous ceremonies which they originated. Of these probably none exceeded in grossness of absurdity the Festival of the Ass, as annually performed on the 14th of January.
>>Theatrical representations of Scripture history were originally intended to impress religious truths upon the minds of an illiterate people,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Tragedy
I just a nice British movie from 1951 called “Never Take No for An Answer” which is about a little boy who takes his sick donkey to The Pope for a cure. Donkeys are very important in rural communities.
In my Italian house, growing up, we enjoyed a lot of Italian bread. Some people call the end of the bread, ‘the heel,’ but my Italian Uncle always called it ‘the ass.’ Most people try to avoid the end of the bread, but me, I love to eat the ass.
Thanks for posting. I had never seen that painting.
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/rest-on-the-flight-into-egypt-31734
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
1879
Luc Olivier Merson (French, 1846–1920)
Fleeing persecution at the hands of Roman authorities, the Holy Family takes refuge in Egypt. Joseph dozes beside a dying campfire while his donkey grazes on sparse desert grass. At left sleep the Virgin Mary and infant Christ, crowned with a halo of light. They lie in the arms of a sphinx, its eyes turned to the heavens, where the first stars begin to appear. A successful Academic artist, Merson never traveled to North Africa, but his use of archeological detail creates the illusion of an eyewitness account, breathing new life into a time-honored subject.
That is a gorgeous painting. Would love to see it up close. It is so serene. Thank you!
Thanks for posting the painting. I had never seen it before. Mind you Mary would never have slept in the “arms of a sphinx” since it would have been connected with the horrors of Egyptian paganism.
For a minute there I thought the headline was shilling for Andrew Zimmerman chowing down on everything from nail clippings to spenchter muscles.
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