The Feast of the Donkey was a medieval Christian festival on January 14. It was celebrated primarily in France, during the Feast of Fools celebrating biblical stories related to donkeys, particularly the donkey carrying the Holy Family to Egypt after the birth of Jesus.
The Feast of the Donkey, the Flight into Egypt
This festival may represent a Christian adaptation of the pagan festival, Cervulus, integrating it with the donkey into the nativity story. In connection with biblical stories, the celebration was first observed in the 11th century.
In the second half of the 15th century, the festival gradually disappeared, as did the Feast of Fools, which was abolished around the same time.
In Beauvais, for example, on January 14 of each year, a young girl, mounted on a donkey and holding a child in her arms, to represent the flight into Egypt, went from the cathedral to the church of Saint-Étienne. The young girl wore a golden cope. The donkey was magnificently caparisoned. The clergy introduced them with pomp into the sanctuary, and, during the service, the songs always ended with this cry repeated three times: Hi! Han!.
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On this day, the French celebrated the Feast of Fools including the Feast of the Donkey. The celebrations featured various biblical episodes including the donkey carrying the Holy Family to Egypt after the birth of Jesus. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #14January #fêtedesfous #fêtedelâne
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