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Show RICH AND POOR MINCLED DURING YULE During' the 1100s and 1500s before the Puritans got the upper hand, the golden age of English' hospitality reigned. At Christmas time Castles and manor houses were filled with guests by the score and the hundred. Kinsmen and neighbors were there and or certain days the tradesmen and tenants, for all were equal at this season. The 'ostler could dance with the mistress if he had the nerve to ask her. And he usually had after the wassail. The great halls were a din of geniality. There was light almost enough to pierce the wood smoke. And there were the savory aromas: Roasting beef, roasting mutton, fowl and brawn (the flesh of the wild pig, which had been caught and fed good grain to the point of arousing his suspicions; too late, of course). The dark ale flowed and added its voice by proxy to heighten the noise. At the peak of all this there was brought in the Yule log a relic, incidentally, of the Scandinavians' pagan worship of Thor. With a brand from last year's log the new one was fired. The light from these roaring flames would shine out through portals opened to the knock of caroling and wassailing wassail-ing bands who, more often than not, were brought into the hall to eat of nutmeg cakes and brawn and mustard. |