ABSTRACT
Whilst the jongleurs wandered the countryside entertaining both rich and poor and the new Christian drama slowly developed in the churches, the villagers of Europe were eagerly seizing on every possible occasion to interrupt the drudgery of their daily lives by holding fairs and festivals to mark events like the safe gathering-in of the harvest, the end of winter, the reappearance of plants and animals in spring and, of course, all the local weddings and saints' days. On these occasions the people forgot their troubles for a while and indulged themselves in heavy drinking and uninhibited merrymaking.
