International Holidays - Feast of the Ass

The Donkey Festival, celebrated on January 14, has been known since the 11th century And it is dedicated not to a pet known for its stubbornness, but to one of the gospel events This day is interpreted as a reminder of the flight to Egypt of the Holy Family After all, an ordinary donkey helped them in this, without which Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus would not have been able to overcome the difficult path Flight was a necessary measure in order to escape the massacre of infants, which was carried out on the orders of King Herod According to legend, in little Jesus, every unreasonable creature of God, unlike people, recognized the Creator in human form The Holy Family was even accompanied by lions, who became meek and completely harmless But the donkey helped him directly get to a safe place It is not known for certain when the Donkey Festival began to be celebrated But the first mention of such a celebration dates back to 1162 and is contained in one of the works of the French theologian John Belet Information about him can also be found in the novels of the writer Victor Hugo In particular, the Feast of the Donkey is mentioned in the famous novel “Notre Dame de Paris” It is on this occasion (as well as on the feast of Epiphany) that folk festivities take place on the streets of Paris, during which the ugly bell-ringer Quasimodo is jokingly crowned as a false pope (the pope of fools) The beautiful street dancer Esmeralda performs at the same event This is exactly how the beginning of the novel happens, the beautiful Esmeralda, the hunchback Quasimodo and other characters meet In general, echoes of traditional religious celebrations can be found throughout European cultural history There is also data about him in Nietzsche’s philosophical treatise, which is called “Beyond Good and Evil” Historians often do not consider the celebration in itself, but include it in the context of the larger Feast of Fools as a by-product The Donkey Festival was widely celebrated only in the Middle Ages, mainly in France In the second half of the 15th century, it was practically forgotten Interestingly, during the celebration, not only the animal on which the baby Jesus was brought to Egypt was glorified, but also all the biblical donkeys in general Among them is the one on which Jesus Christ later entered Jerusalem Traditional celebrations included folk festivals, performances by street musicians, dancers and other artists There was also a theatrical performance in the form of a re-enactment of gospel events A beautiful girl with a baby in her arms sat on a donkey and rode along the main city streets, accompanied by musicians The procession ended near the church, where a special mass was celebrated to mark the solemn day Choristers and junior church officials of the local church necessarily took part in the celebration The procession was accompanied by Latin paraliturgical songs The most famous of them is the “Orientis partibus” conductor It celebrates the arrival from the distant eastern lands of a donkey who is able to separate the wheat from the chaff