Entertainment
In the middle ages, the types of entertainment varied according to their status but it included feasts, banquets, jousts, and tournaments, Mystery Plays, fairs, games and sports, hunting, hawking, animal entertainment using dogs, bears, and monkeys.
Holidays and Festivals
Daily life during the Middle Ages was alleviated by the various types of entertainment such as festivals and holidays. The medieval people shared a common life in the work of the fields, in the sports of the village green and in the services of the parish church. They enjoyed many holidays, it has been estimated that, besides Sundays, about eight weeks in every year were free from work. Festivals such as Christmas, Easter, and May Day, at the end of ploughing and the completion of harvest, relieved the monotony of the daily round of labor.
Entertainers
Medieval entertainers were:
· Jesters who were fool at courts
· Mummers who masked or costumed merrymaker or dancers at festivals, minstrels and troubadours
· Acrobats, jugglers and conjurers.
Games and Entertainment
Games of the Middle ages were popular in all walks of society. Games were played by the Upper classes and Lower classes. By adults and children. Different types of games are card, board, dice, sporting and children games.
Examples of board games: chess, tables (backgammon), fox and geese, The Philosophers game, shovelboard, Knucklebones, hazard, and etc.
Outdoor Entertainment
Outdoor Entertainment during the Middle Ages centered around the Village Green and at local fairs and included a variety of Medieval Sports:
Entertainment for Rich People
Entertainment for rich people were mainly enormous feasts and banquets. The Medieval Period of the Middle Ages was becoming more refined and elegant and the concept of courtly love was introduced and displayed at both tournaments and jousts. During the feast musicians would play and provide musical entertainment. After feasting, entertainment might be provided by minstrels, troubadours, jesters, acrobats, fire-eaters and conjurers.
Holidays and Festivals
Daily life during the Middle Ages was alleviated by the various types of entertainment such as festivals and holidays. The medieval people shared a common life in the work of the fields, in the sports of the village green and in the services of the parish church. They enjoyed many holidays, it has been estimated that, besides Sundays, about eight weeks in every year were free from work. Festivals such as Christmas, Easter, and May Day, at the end of ploughing and the completion of harvest, relieved the monotony of the daily round of labor.
Entertainers
Medieval entertainers were:
· Jesters who were fool at courts
· Mummers who masked or costumed merrymaker or dancers at festivals, minstrels and troubadours
· Acrobats, jugglers and conjurers.
Games and Entertainment
Games of the Middle ages were popular in all walks of society. Games were played by the Upper classes and Lower classes. By adults and children. Different types of games are card, board, dice, sporting and children games.
Examples of board games: chess, tables (backgammon), fox and geese, The Philosophers game, shovelboard, Knucklebones, hazard, and etc.
Outdoor Entertainment
Outdoor Entertainment during the Middle Ages centered around the Village Green and at local fairs and included a variety of Medieval Sports:
- Archery - Archery contests were especially popular
- Bowls and Colf - the ancestor of Golf
- Game ball - a simple football game
- Hammer-throwing
- Hurling - a similar game to hockey
- Horseshoes - throwing horseshoes at a target
- Quarter-staff contests Skittles - an ancestor of modern ten-pin bowling
- Stool ball - an ancestor of Cricket
- Wrestling
Entertainment for Rich People
Entertainment for rich people were mainly enormous feasts and banquets. The Medieval Period of the Middle Ages was becoming more refined and elegant and the concept of courtly love was introduced and displayed at both tournaments and jousts. During the feast musicians would play and provide musical entertainment. After feasting, entertainment might be provided by minstrels, troubadours, jesters, acrobats, fire-eaters and conjurers.