 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
The majority of the people in medieval times were uneducated peasants who were kept in ignorance since it was the kings and barons best self-interest to keep them there. While it is true that there was limited knowledge available for all, the Church and the "nobility" did not do enough to help the peasants, the poor souls who were crushed between the secular and religious worlds. Even though there were some conscientious barons and churchmen there was little relief for the downtrodden and all their potential happiness and brainpower was lost.
Now those who know nothing still have to believe in something, and instead of knowledge the peasant's minds were filled with fear, false religion and superstition.
"That Eggman really cracks me up!"
Pseudo Religion:
Since Bibles were not available and the peasants did not know how to read, they could not make their own decisions about the proper way to worship. Even if they could, there wasn't any chance that they would be able to worship the way they saw fit. Bridging the gap between Biblical faith and superstition was the medieval church that would have branded them as heretics. The following are some of the un-Biblical observances:
Candlemas: Festival for Mary in February.
Michelmas: Festival for St. Michael the archangel in September.
Saint Nicholas day: Held in December.
Halloween: All saints day.
Superstitions:
There were many superstitions in medieval times, due to the fact that the poor peasants knew so little, but had to fill their heads with something. For instance, one silly tradition was the "corn baby of the harvest". This was the previous year's last sheaf of wheat, placed in a special place in the barn, signifying the spirit of the harvest.
Since health and medicine was lacking, there were asinine "cures" for health such as:
the touch of a dead man's tooth cures a toothache and the breath of an ass eliminates poison.
There be monsters on the land,
And you can find them at:
in the sky,
and in the sea.
godecookery.com
a site of medieval life, art and cookery!
Monsters and other foolishness:
As if it wasn't scary enough to be a peasant in medieval Europe, they also had these things to worry about:
will-o-the-wisps seen in marshes
shooting stars
vultures over the house
13 people sitting at one table
dreams of physicians
child-devouring ogres
vampires
wolfmen
child-stealing dracs
souls of un-baptized dead infants inhabiting the swamps
being suffocated by imps while sleeping
emptying vessels of water so the souls of the departed won't drown
a dog or cat running over a coffin and changing the body into a vampire
Now it could be that some of these things were spoken of for entertainment purposes and not really part of a belief system. After all, we still tell tales about some of the same things. And with all the television, movies and literature we have these days, we have more monsters than they did. Stephen King is a very rich man due to our appetite for horror stories and strange creatures. And then there is Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, haunted houses, extraterrestrials....
