The woodcut above comes from a broadsheet ballad probably published around 1660 and called the Merry Boys of Christmas*.
The lines relevant to the topic of this entry are near the end of the song:
These Holidays wel briskly drink,
all mirth we will devise,
No Treason we will speak or think,
then bring us brave mincd Pies:
Roast Beef and brave Plum-Porridge
our Loyal hearts to chear,
Then prithee make no more ado,
but bring us Christmas Beer.
Today I write a little last bit about the crucial role of brave mince pie(s) in sixteenth and seventeenth century holiday celebrations. These pies, as well as roast beef, and plum porridge/pottage/pudding were synonymous with the season.
There was a mock debate called “A witty dialogue between Roast-beef, Mince-pye, and Plumb-pottage, contending for superiority with the verdict of Strong-beer, their moderator there upon” which was published in 1668 with Mother SHIPTONS Christmas CARROLS. In the ensuing text, the three holiday staples argue and food pun amongst themselves. For instance, Mince-Pye responds to Plumb Pottage’s claim of supremacy by reason of ancient custom with this retort:
“Pish, never tell me of your Reasons: your Reasons are not in Date, and therefore, stark nought, and as for Custome, I say 'tis more Customary to prefer Pye before Pottage, ergo your Custome is not worth a Cucumber.”
In the end, Strong Beer passes judgement, giving Mince-Pye a limited seasonal victory: “And for you Mr. Mince-pye, for the time of Christmas also are to be the Senior in all mens mouths, but ever after to disappear and vanish.”
In more serious works, the importance of pies at Christmas is maintained. In 1719, Frenchman Maximilien Misson’s observations on English life were translated and published as M. Misson's Memoirs and Observations in his Travels Over England. In his section on Christmas, he states: “Every family against [in preparation for] Christmass makes a famous pye, which they call Chrtistmass pye : it is a great nostrum [probably in the sense of a cure-all], the composition of this pasty; it is a most learned mixture of neats-tongues, chicken, eggs, sugar, raisins, lemon and orange peel, various kinds of spicery etc.” Sound basically familiar?
For many, the importance of the pie connected to religious aspects of Christmas, even more societally critical than they would be today. John Selden, a prominent period scholar of English law, much praised by the poet John Milton, said this in hisTable-Talk under the heading “Christmass”: “Our Meats...have Relation to Church-works. The Coffin of our Christmass-Pies in shape long, is in Imitation of the Cratch [manger of the Christ child].” A later writer in the literary periodical The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle makes this observation: “and may not the pie, a compound of the choicest productions of the East, have in view the offerings made by the wise men, who came from afar to worship, bring spices, &c.?” William Bickerstaff, a prominent curate, schoolmaster and writer in the late 1700s said: “The Christmas Pye is in its own nature a kind of consecrated cake, and a badge of distinction.”
This importance to some, especially in religious contexts, also made it a target for others. Another writer in the aforementioned Gentleman’s Magazine writes of the pie’s specific religious significance given: “the zealous opposition it meets with from the Quakers, who...inveigh against Christmas Pye as an invention of the scarlet whore of Babylon, an hodge-podge of superstition, popery, the devil, and all his works.” Writing of the beliefs of related groups, a chronicler from the eighteenth century says: "Under the censure of lewd Customs...Christmas-Pye, is made an abomination." Similarly, pies are used in an anti-Catholic poem, which connects them with the failed Gunpowder Plot. Even inside the Church of England, seventeenth century poet Samuel Sheppard wrote an epigram entitled “Christmasse Day” which rejects the culinary markers of the season:
NO matter for Plomb-porridge, or Shrid-pies,
Or a whole Oxe offered in Sacrifice
TO COMƲS, not to CHRIST, this day I'le sing
Coelestiall songs to IESƲS...
“Shrid” or shred is another term for mince and Comus was a demonic figure brought to prominence by Milton a few years earlier, who was based on the Greek god of festivals, revelry and illicit affairs.
Much of the praise and condemnation of mince pies link to the period loaded word “hospitality” and its vital role at Christmas. Tomorrow, we can look into that a bit more.
---
*The English Broadside Ballad Archive provided an invaluable resource for such popular culture artifacts. Here is the link for that specific work https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/30942/xml
No comments:
Post a Comment