ABSTRACT
Five hundred years ago the church was part of the fabric of everyday life in a way it has long ceased to be. Wherever people looked they saw religious symbols. At parish boundaries, at street crossings, at stiles and on bridges, carved crosses and statues of saints proclaimed that God was guarding those who lived there and travellers who journeyed through. The year was structured round religious festivals, not just Christmas and Easter, which survive as public holidays today, but many others commemorating key episodes in the life of Jesus and the birth of the church. Interspersed among the major festivals were vast numbers of saints’ days. These constituted the most commonly recognized calendar in a largely unlettered age: people planning to meet or fixing a date by which a debt might be paid made arrangements with reference to Peter’s-tide, the Eve of St Agnes, or the fair that met on a particular saint’s day. On important holy days (the origin of holidays) work ceased or was substantially reduced so that people could attend religious services, feasts, revels and sports. During some festivals, pageants and plays on biblical themes were performed at different venues within each town. Often there were street parades, with accompanying handbells, banners and processional crosses.
