ABSTRACT
Carnival and 'Easter laughter' were viewed by many as a pagan left-over, to be driven out of Christian lands. Many, on the contrary, saw Shrovetide revels as an occasion for good old Christian laughter. Students and budding lawyers might hone a cutting-edge on their laughter. 'Easter laughter', an excuse for innocent amusement, contributed much to the very basis of the laughter in Rabelais's Pantagruel. But Easter could give rise to sermons steeped in diasyrm. Easter laughter can be riddled with righteous hatred. Some traditional Shrovetide jesting remains obvious enough, as when Rabelais gives Shrove Tuesday an ancestry. It includes, 'From Lord Guts Almighty sprang Saint Paunchy and Mardy-gras.' In his first book, Pantagruel, Rabelais shows Shrovetide merriment at its best. The sober appearance of the earliest Pantagruel suggests laughter and merriment: it is done up to look like a learned law-book.
