Fast or Feasten?
Maggie Black looks at the history of the seasonal traditions of contrasting fasting and excess.
Lent apart, until their abolition in Commonwealth times official fast-days prescribed for laymen under the English Church were effectively synonymous with ‘fysshe’ days. Until the 15th century, these were Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; first Wednesday, then Saturday, was dropped, and Friday at the Reformation. All later attempts to re-impose meatless days failed.
Under the early medieval church, the restriction on meat-eating was, if strictly observed, a good deal more burdensome than it would seem today. There were fewer alternative food and additives, and cooking and preserving facilities were more limited, so that the frequency with which ‘fysshe’ days came round meant that any law-abiding humble personal ate drearily similar salt fish meals for half the year. Only the rich could afford expensive fresh fish, rich sauces and other luxuries to vary their diet. (Except in Lent, they also had more dairy food than poorer men.)
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