Christmas 500 years ago was a drunken 6-week feast that may have been considerably better than the modern holiday, medieval historian says

When people think of the European Middle Ages, they often think of extreme poverty, superstition, and darkness. But the reality of the thousand-year period from 500 to 1500 was much more complex. This is especially true when considering peasants, who make up about 90% of the population.

Despite all their hard work, the peasants had a fair amount of downtime. Add the many Sundays and vacations, and you find that about a third of the year was devoid of intense work. Celebrations were frequent and centered around religious holidays such as Easter, Pentecost, and saints’ feasts.

But the longest and most festive of these holidays was Christmas.

As a professor of medieval history, I can assure you that the common belief that peasant life was nothing more than misery is a misconception. They enjoyed a rich social life—perhaps richer than ours—and they ate well, partied frequently, and had families not unlike our own. For them, holiday celebrations did not begin on Christmas Eve and end on New Year’s Eve.

The party had just started.

Daily life in a peasant village

The peasant was not merely a lower-class or poor person. Rather, the peasant was a subsistence farmer who owed his masters a portion of the food they grew. They also provided labor, which might include building bridges or farming the lord’s land.

In return, the lord would provide his peasants with protection from bandits or invaders. It also provided justice through the court system and punished people for theft, murder, and other crimes. Usually, the lord lived in the village or somewhere nearby.

Peasants lived in the countryside, in villages that ranged in size from a few houses to several hundred. The villages had communal kilns, wells, flour mills, breweries or taverns, and blacksmiths. The houses were clustered in the center of the village along a dirt road surrounded by agricultural land.

By today’s standards, a peasant’s home was small – in England, the average was about 700 square feet (65 square metres). Houses could be made of turf, wood, stone, or “stal and stucco,” a construction much like lathe and stucco, with thatched-beamed roofs. The houses had front doors, and some had back doors. The windows were covered with shutters, and rarely with glass. Apart from the heater, only the sun, moon, oil lamp or candle provides light.

Strange sleeping habits and sex without privacy

The day was determined by the seasons and sunlight. Most people woke up at dawn or shortly before; The men went out to their fields soon after to plant grains such as wheat and barley. Women worked in the house and yard, taking care of children, animals, and vegetable gardens, as well as spinning, sewing, and cooking. Peasants did not have clocks, so a recipe might recommend cooking something for the time it takes to say the Lord’s Prayer three times.

At midday, people usually take a break and eat their largest meal – often a soup or stew. The foods they eat can include lamb and beef, along with cheese, cabbage, onions, leeks, turnips and beans. Fish, especially freshwater fish, were also popular. Every meal included bread.

Beer and wine were the main components of the meal. By our standards, peasants drank a lot, although the alcohol content of beer and wine was lower than today’s versions. They often take a nap before returning to work. In the evening, they ate a light meal, perhaps just bread, and socialized for a while.

They go to bed within a few hours of darkness, so how long they sleep depends on the season. On average, they slept about eight hours, but not consecutively. They woke up after the “first sleep,” prayed, had sex or talked to the neighbors for between half an hour and two hours, and then went back to sleep for another four hours or so.

The peasants did not have as much privacy as we think; Often everyone sleeps in one large room. Parents made love to each other while their children slept nearby. Married couples share a bed, and one of their younger children may sleep with them, although infants have a cradle. Older children are more likely to sleep in one bed.

A medieval Christmas dream

Life certainly wasn’t easy. But the periods of rest and entertainment were enviable.

Today, many people start thinking about Christmas after Thanksgiving, and any kind of holiday spirit fades by early January.

In the Middle Ages, this would have been unheard of.

Advent – ​​the period of anticipation and fasting that precedes Christmas – began with St. Martin’s Day.

At the time, it was 40 days before Christmas; Today is the fourth Sunday before that. During this period, Western Christians fasted. While less strict than that of Lent, meat and dairy products were restricted to certain days of the week. These protocols not only symbolized absence and longing, but also helped expand the food supply after the end of the harvest and before the meat had fully cured.

Christmas itself was known for feasting and drunkenness, and lasted approximately six weeks.

December 25 is followed by 12 days of Christmas, ending with the Epiphany on January 6, which commemorates the visit of the Magi to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Gifts were exchanged, often in the form of food or money, although this was more common on New Year’s Day. Game birds, pork, mince pies and spiced wine were common foods, as the spices were believed to help warm the body.

Although Christmas officially celebrates the birth of Jesus, it was clearly linked to pre-Christian celebrations that focused on the winter solstice and the return of light and life. This means that bonfires, Christmas logs and evergreen decorations were part of the festivities. According to tradition, Saint Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene in 1223.

Christmas ended slowly, with the first Monday after Epiphany being called “Plow Monday” because it marked the return to agricultural work. The full end of the season came on February 2nd – called Candlemas – which coincided with the ancient pagan holiday of Imbolc. On this day, candles were blessed for use in the coming year, and any remaining decorations were thought to be at risk of infestation by goblins.

Many people today complain about the stress of the holidays: buying gifts, traveling, cooking, cleaning, and running from one obligation to another. There’s a short window to get it all done: Christmas Day is the only day many workplaces are required to shut down.

In the meantime, I’ll be dreaming of a medieval Christmas.

Bobby Sutherland, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Dayton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

This story originally appeared on Fortune.com

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2025-12-25 13:10:00