Lecture 13: Carnival in the High Middle Ages
is to make the oil. You’ll need fresh raw walnuts for this. It is easiest to
heat the mixture fi rst, and then pound or process, and then wring them out
in a good, sturdy dish towel. This oil is fabulous on a salad or drizzled onto
bread. This is the original and a very literal translation, so you can see the
cognate words.Man skal takae en dysk maeth nutae kyaernae, oc en aeggy skalae full maeth
salt, oc latae them samaen i en heet mortel oc stampae thaet wael, oc writhae
gomaen et klaethae, that warthaer thaet oly.“Man shall take a dish with nut kernels, and an egg shell full with salt, and
let them together in a hot mortar and stamp that well, and wring through a
cloth, that will be oil.”Anthropological Exercise: Participant Observation
Attend a festival such as carnival in New Orleans or a local food festival,
state fair, or similar event. Ideally, this should be one where people can drink,
get a little rowdy, and perhaps listen to loud music. Join in, but take note
of how people behave differently than on other occasions. Have strangers
approached you or talked to you without prompting? Are people closer than
they would be normally? Are they speaking more loudly or wearing clothes
they wouldn’t ordinarily? Note any unusual behavior. After the event,
consider what function the festival served. Did it bring people together
in ways beyond physical proximity? Was there a communal bond created
and, if so, on what basis? Did anyone “perform” his or her identity through
food—perhaps a particular dish or ethnic cuisine? Now consider ways these
insights might heighten your interpretation of festivals in the past.