I remember being struck in some random German museum by a sense of how filled with symbolic meaning each act of a medieval life could be. There was a catalogue of medieval social symbology, eg putting a belt on a child meant you were becoming their guardian, standing under x was for weddings, etc etc. There was a massive list of them and I had this sudden sense of living in a way where every action had a social consequence ...
Now I'm not a scholar of the period so perhaps I am exaggerating my own personal response. But it does make it easier to explain how eg Umberto Eco could transition so easily from a medievalist into semiotics - because so much of the medieval world is all about interpreting shared cultural symbols.
Give me utilitiy or give me something slightly better!
It was interesting how conservative the change over to christianity from paganism was. The church allowed people adopting christianity to continue the same rituals from paganism just in the name of christ or with catholic (or the competing christianity versions from Constantinople times) approval. The glory to changed just not the ritual. That was true of medieval times which was largely superstitious still.
'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.
Heh good point. I am having all sorts of problems getting used to Hawaiin time here. They are just slow. It was the same when I moved from NY to Virginia. Virginian time was an order of magnitude less than NY time. Wonder if the medieval mind was imbued with great patience.
'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.
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