Church holidays in history

[petite_foireuse]

Hi there,

I’m sure we have some members around interested in the history of the Church, so here goes: I was reading the Wikipedia-entry on Thanksgiving and came upon the following assertion:

“Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations.” (Wikipedia)

Can it possibly really have been that extreme? That would be one in three to four days. I have a hard time believing this can have been true in an agriculture-based society. I mean, people had to work hard to produce food. No wonder there was famine

Can someone shed light on the topic?

 

[Trishie]

It was a more universally Catholic world then.

Thank you for sharing

 

[fredystairs]

I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of the total of 95 other days off. I think I heard it was less than that. Be that as it may it is my understanding was that the Church did this deliberately to allow the common folks some time off. If they didn’t provide the holidays, then the overlords would require the common folks to work that much harder. So the entire point was to give these folks some rest.

Blessings