Feasting,Fasting,andDoingPenance 277
Friday fast if it fell on that day.^29 Students at Bologna gathered for dinner
parties on Christmas day, as they did on Epiphany and Easter. They tradi-
tionally partook of a common dish of tortellini at the local tavern.^30 Tom-
maso Musolini, from the cappella of San Salvatore, participant at a similar
festaon Epiphany, fondly recalled how his friends sang well (bene cantabimus),
danced, and cast dice to see who would pick up the tab. Such innocuous
gambling was a usual part of the festivities among the students. The com-
mune never enforced the gaming laws on the three great festivals—or, at
least, that was what Tommaso told the court after city police raided the
dinner at Lago di Gipso’s tavern in 1289.^31 We do not know whether Tom-
maso and his five friends got off.
In the contrade, the neighborhoods, Christmas celebrations continued
throughout the octave. Weather permitting, this was a time for street parties.
At Bologna, from the monastery of Santo Stefano to the church of San
Giovanni in Monte, neighbors banqueted nightly on tables and benches
under the porticoes and built bonfires in the street for warmth. The com-
mune tried to end these gatherings in the mid- 1260 s, claiming that they had
gotten too rowdy, but the parties just moved elsewhere. City fathers finally
satisfied themselves by forbidding the octave parties from being held in
churches.^32 People could not be denied their good cheer. Christmas was a
time for indulgence all around, something even the Christ Child approved,
at least in popular preaching. One mid- to late-thirteenth-century collector
of exempla recounted the story of a nun who had escaped and became a
prostitute. After years outside the convent, on a fine Christmas morn, she
began to worry about her salvation. Recalling the kindness with which moth-
ers enjoy their infant children, she prayed before an image of the Christmas
Madonna. She praised Mary’s tender love for the infant Jesus and begged a
share of it for herself. Mary and Jesus heard her prayer. The child’s voice
told her that all her sins were forgiven. The story is undated, but the tender
devotion to Mary fits well in the communal period.^33
The feast of Holy Innocents, December 28 , commemorated the children
murdered by King Herod, as recounted in Matthew’s Gospel. In north Italy
this was a time of another special Christmas frolic, the Feast of the Boy
Bishop. At Mass, the celebrant wore dark vestments, and the choir did not
chant the Gloria, out of respect for the children’s sorrowing parents, even
though the babes were already rejoicing in heaven.^34 At Office and table,
young choir boys and adolescent clerics replaced the senior clergy, so as to
- Ibid., 1. 49 ,p. 46.
- Hermann Kantorowicz, ‘‘Una festa studentesca bolognese per l’Epifania del 1289 ,’’AMDSPPR,
3 d ser., 24 ( 1905 / 6 ): 321 – 22 , and ‘‘Documenti,’’ ibid., 323 – 26. - ‘‘Documenti,’’ 325.
- Bologna Stat.i( 1262 / 67 ), 7. 146 y, 2 : 170 – 71.
- Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana,msN 43 Sup., fols. 23 v– 24 r.
- Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xiv. 49 , fols. 26 v– 27 r.