Surviving Winter
With all the modern conveniences it’s easy to forget the once great effort it took to survive winter. Preserving autumn’s harvest and fully stocking larders for the long nights and short days. What did our medieval forebears do to survive their barren, cold days?
One way you can see their wintry concerns and activities are through Breviarys, Books of Hours and Psalters‘ calendar pages.
Medieval manuscripts’ calendars served multiple purposes. They kept track of the date. They told you what the relevant zodiac sign was and which days were Church feasts and holidays. And since most were decorated with seasonal ‘labor of the month’ pictures you can see what people did then. Their daily life.
Medieval manuscripts’ calendars served multiple purposes. They kept track of the date. They told you what the relevant zodiac sign was and which days were Church feasts and holidays. And since most were decorated with seasonal ‘labor of the month’ pictures you can see what people did then. Their daily life.
My daily life this winter, after Lonely Tower’s coming 12th Night Event, will be to head south for a time. To break the dark, cold monotony and learn something new.
What do you do to survive winter? What would your SCA persona do?
What do you do to survive winter? What would your SCA persona do?
Related prior Posts:
Related External Sites:
British Library’s Medieval Manuscripts’ blog posts on calendar pages. My favorite.
Googling medieval calendars images. This often gets more than you expect.
Categories: Persona
An Itinerant Scribe 