ABSTRACT
This chapter emphasizes non-work activities that provided clear contrasts to the daily routine. The greater burdens of work constituted one of the most telling features in the contrast between agricultural and hunting and gathering societies. It is important to remember that most visions of a Golden Age emphasized the absence of the need for work, and implicitly at least, images of heaven in a life to come highlighted the cessation of work obligations as well. Sexual activity and interest, in other words, could factor into available pleasure, though there were, unquestionably, a number of constraints, including abundant community shaming for activities deemed inappropriate. Childhood could also offer unexpected opportunities for pleasure, some of which might even factor into adult experience at least to some extent. In rural villages, play offered particular opportunities to interact with nature, but even in the cities children managed to engage in street games and other activities that highlighted play.
