The Church and Society Though Europeans became Christian, they still held on to some of their old beliefs in magic and folk traditions. Christmas and Easter became important dates from the fourth century. Christ’s birth, celebrated on December, replaced an old pre-Roman festival, the date of which was calculated by the solar calendar. Easter marked the crucifixion of Christ and his rising from the dead.
But its date was not a fixed one, because it replaced an older festival to celebrate the coming of spring after a long winter, dated by the lunar calendar. Traditionally, on that day, people of each village used to make a tour of their village lands. With the coming of Christianity, they continued to do this, but they called the village the ‘parish’ (the area under the supervision of one priest). Overworked peasants welcomed ‘holy days’/holidays because they were not expected to work then.
These days were meant for prayer, but people usually spent a good part of them having fun and feasting. Pilgrimage was an important part of a Christian’s life, and many people went on long journeys to shrines of martyrs or to big churches. ‘When in April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root And the small birds are making melody That sleep away the night with open eye… (So Nature pricks them and their heart engages); Then people long to go on pilgrimages, And palmers* long to seek the foreign shrines Of far-off saints, revered in various lands. And especially from every shire Of England, to Canterbury they make their journey.’ – Geoffrey Chaucer (c.
– ), The Canterbury Tales . This was written in Middle English, and the verse is a translation in modern English. *A monk who travels to distant shrines.