RPTS 320

1. A History of Festivals And Fairs RPTS 320

2. Table of Contents • Assyrian, Babylonian and Near Eastern Festivals • Festivals of Ancient Egypt • Festivals of Greece (the Olympics) • Festivals of Rome (the Ludi) • Medieval and Renaissance Festivals (including church festivals) • Modern Festivals (including Expositions, World’s Fairs, and Olympics)

3. Primitive Origins • Evidence of the precursors of festivals and fairs have emerged from archeological excavations. • Prehistoric peoples did have places where they met and traded goods—the origins of fairs. There is evidence that festivals, some with apparent religious significance, also occurred.

4. Ancient Festivals • Among ancient societies—Babylonians, Assyrians, and Sumerians—the earliest festivals arose from religious as well as agricultural roots. • The constant specter of famine from failed harvests resulted in religious festivals to appease the agricultural gods or to celebrate the bounty they brought.

5. As civilization progressed, festivals of a military or nationalistic character also appeared • These might have originally commemorated a victory over a neighboring people or the establishment of a new dynasty. • These festivals celebrated the removal of a threat or the acquisition of new wealth and prestige.

6. Ancient Egypt • Despite the occasional famine, Egyptian agriculture was remarkably stable, and a series of religious and political festivals developed. • The textbook mentions the festival of Opet—a 27-day celebration taking place during the annual flooding of the Nile (when all work in the fields stopped). • There were numerous other feasts/festivals on the Egyptian calendar, some much older than that of Opet.

7. The Festival of Opet The image of the god Amun was cleansed, clothed in fine garments and jewelry, placed in a shrine which set upon a ceremonial barque or boat which was then transported to a temple where he renewed his bond with the pharaoh. The immense popularity of this festival may have been due, in part, to the free distribution of bread and beer.

8. Other Egyptian Festivals • New Year’s Day (Wep-renpet)—a feast of rejuvenation and rebirth. • Feast of Wagy—17 days after New Year’s—a festival of Toth, focusing on mortuary rituals. • Festival of Sokar—feast of Osiris, god of the underworld. • Festival of the god Min (god of fertility)—cutting of the first sheaf of grain. • Heb-Sed festival—celebrated after the pharaoh had completed his 30th year and every 3rd year thereafter—to demonstrate the ruler’s potency/competency.

9. Beyond the major civic and religious festivals, their were numerous local festivals and processions to temples. • The nobles and wealthy merchants also celebrated within their homes.

10. Festivals of Ancient Greece • Most of the festivals involved worship of and processions to the temples of the various gods, usually accompanied by the sacrifice of various animals.

11. Festivals often celebrated the skills of warfare with events such as chariot races and footraces by fully armed warriors.

12. The Olympic Games • Lasting over 1000 years, the Olympic games were open to any free-born Greek. • Women could not enter, except as owner of a team or chariot in the equestrian events. • Many competitors were competing nude. • Typical competitions included wrestling • boxing

13. Throwing the discus • And the javelin And various equestrian activities

14. The Olympics also included intellectual activities as well as competitions relating to physical skill. • Greek playwrights competed for the honor of having their productions presented to the audience.

15. Olympic Challenges • Your textbook points out that many of the same challenges facing today’s festival organizers also faced those hosting the Olympic festival. • These included congested traffic, sanitation, and site deterioration as well as provision of food and drink for the spectators and competitors. • Although not specifically recorded, there were probably medical problems such as heat exhaustion as well as death or injury of the competitors.

16. Cheating, bribery and corruption were also problems, just as they are in competition today. • Politics was of extreme importance, with cities getting “bragging rights” if their athletes won any events. • The games became even more political after the Roman conquest of Greece. When Nero decided to enter the Olympic games, he is said to have won all events in which he entered.

17. Roman Festivals • The Romans were noted for “borrowing” or incorporating ideas from other cultures, including the Greeks. • The Romans of Republican times regarded the Greeks as being somewhat degenerate and amoral, and some Greek ideas were banned in Rome.

18. To the practical Roman, the idea of a play in a theater was typically Greek and banned. • However, in late Republican times, the theater came to Rome—but on a much more massive scale. The Roman theater was originally played against a hillside and was a spectacle on a grand scale. One “play” had as many as 600 donkeys on the stage at one time. • These plays were definitely special events.

19. The Ludi • From early days, Rome developed a series of Festivals, which became known as the Ludi or Roman Games. • The oldest of these, the Ludi Romani, probably began as a celebration of a military triumph before 500 BC. • Originally a one-day event, it expanded to some 16 days in duration. From 366 BC on, it was an annual event and the responsibility of a designated magistrate.

20. The various Ludi celebrated not only military triumphs, but also agriculture, the gods and goddesses worshiped by Romans, and legislation. • We know a great deal about the activities of the Ludi because of historical records, not the least of which includes depictions on Roman coinage of the republic.

21. The processions or parades included a variety of chariot types, some which were ceremonial such as depicted below.

22. Normal chariots were harnessed to teams of two (biga) or four (quadriga) horses. Rarely, they were pulled by three (triga). The most exciting—and dangerous—races were those of the quadriga.

23. Some coins, often called “circus” types, show chariots pulled by a variety of animals such as antlered deer, elephants, goats, and lions.

24. While the previous types are plausible, some of the depictions probably represent a vivid imagination—chariots pulled by snakes and hippocamps (sea horses).

25. Your textbook refers to other activities such as gladiatorial battles and horsemen racing with two horses each (the desultors) who would leap from the back of one horse to the other after turns on the track.

26. The coliseum featured a variety of other activities, some being bloody battles between soldiers or gladiators, others between hunters and wild animals. Eventually, much of the wildlife in Italy and North Africa was decimated by the games.

27. The LudiApollinares were another game instituted by Sulla in 212 BC and made permanent in 211 BC by C. CalpurniusPiso who issued coins celebrating horse races.

28. Entertainment at the ludi included chariot races (ludicircenses) or theatrical performances (ludiscaenici). • The Roman games had song, dance, farce, and musical entertainment at the early games, but actual Roman plays did not begin until after the first Punic War (around 240 BC). • The Ludi Romani honored Jupiter OptimusMaximus, began around 507 BC and was held from September 5-19. These had no dramatic performances

29. A reconstruction of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.

30. The LudiPlebeii honored Jupiter, began around 220 BC, and ran from November 4-17. • The LudiApollinares honored Apollo, started around 210-208 BC, and ran from July 6-13. He was god of music, dance, poetry, archery, and healing as well as the sun or god of light.

31. The LudiMegalenses honored Magna Mater (the goddess Cybele), began in 191 BC, and ran from April 4-10. Cybele was the goddess of nature and fertility and the rites of celebration were wild, frenzied affairs. Her crown was frequently shown as a city wall, and she was associated with wildlife, especially lions and bees.

32. The LudiCeriales honored Ceres (goddess of grain/crops), began between 200-220 BC, and was celebrated April 12-19. Her temple sat on the Aventine Hill, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome.

33. The LudiFloraleshonered the Roman goddess Flora and was celebrated April 28-May 3. Essentially this was a May Day celebration which began with the dedication of the temple to Flora around 240 BC. It fell into disfavor after a few years but was revived in 173 BC after the senate became concerned with wind and hail damage to blooming plants.