Was there a big party in 1000 A.D
Was the Christian system of dates wide spread enough that there was a huge celebration, did they know that the year was 1066 when the battle of Hastings happened for example.
Posted Jul 18, 2011, 1:45 PM UTC
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The real fear was the "Y1K bug" in which much of Anglo-Saxon literature would become confusing and hard to read. In fact, much of this literature still is hard to read.
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Yeah it was called the Millennial Fair
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Across the way from Guardia Castle, am I right?
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My name is Gato, I have metal joints, beat me up and earn 15 silver points.
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daaaa dun dun dun dun daaaaa doo doo daaa de da dun do do dun de daaa dun dunnnnn dun dun dun dun dundundun dunnnn (dun dun)
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Pop, pop. Pop pop, poppop.
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caw caw caw
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I wish I could upvote this 100 times.
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Yeah dude, you were just too drunk to remember it.
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Sort of. I learned in an Art History class that in the years approaching 1,000 AD the Catholic church went around destroying art like a motherfucker, Pagan & Christian alike. Because, like happywaffle said, they thought the world was going to end, they were preparing the planet for Jesus & they wanted to look like they'd been on their best behavior. Most of what they were destroying were false idols, statues of Pagan gods, depictions of God or Jesus or different saints.
Once 1000 AD happened & Jesus didn't come back they quickly changed their tune & started false-idoling-it-up. Churches with jamb statues of saints & biblical kings were erected, stained glass scenes became more literal, & all forms of art slowly started returning to the realism that was lost with the fall of Rome. It was a sort of renaissance.
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Two possible Chrono Trigger references in two days.
Shame it isn't the same guy.
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I have to admit that I thought the same thing... is that sad?
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This one not so much, but that other one is DEFINITELY a Chrono Trigger reference :D
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The party lasted 66 years in England.
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Party like it's 999.
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I read a little of Gould's book on the topic when it came out. Perhaps it will be useful for you.
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Sounds a bit like an offshoot of Last Thursdayism (more formally but less endearingly known as the Omphalos Hypothesis, or more plainly a bad acid trip).
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They learned to use question marks?
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they were too worried about how their computers would handle the date transition
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not allowed
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No.
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people didn't have watches back then idiot.
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pardy haddent evenben invented
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I seem to recall that some people thought the world was going to end, but generally people didn't live well enough a thousand years ago to have random parties for any reason at all. Maybe a king or two had a feast.
Also the calendar's been tweaked, so although most Christian places "knew" it was the year 1000, the month and date wouldn't have been exactly what they are today.
"Knew" in quotes because most peasants (i.e. most people) wouldn't have really even cared. Too busy trying not to starve or freeze to death.
Truthfully, most people outside of clergy or aristocracy probably didn't know how old they were with much accuracy, much less the year. It simply wasn't that important.
Also, when they thought the year 1000 was, and when we thought it was are different due to Julian/Gregorian calendar reforms.
The difference between the Julian calendar and the Gregorian one using the Christian epoch is 13 days.
13 days as of the 16th century, IIRC.
The current offset is 13 days: Eventually other countries followed the reform for the sake of consistency, but by the time the last adherents of the Julian calendar in Eastern Europe (Russia and Greece) changed to the Gregorian system in the 20th century, they had to drop 13 days from their calendars, due to the additional accumulated difference between the two calendars since 1582.
Since 2000 was a leap year in both the Julian and Gregorian (and Revised Julian*) calendars, the offset has not changed since March 1, 1900 (Gregorian).
*Not that you likely care about this one. It is the reason that I can have a hamburger on the 4th of July but can't really look anyone in the eye on Thanksgiving.
How do you know that such that you can say it's the truth and how can i confirm it?
I don't think you could confirm it. Most people were illiterate. Perhaps I shouldn't have said "truthfully", perhaps "most likely" would have been a better word choice.
A person might have know how many "years" old you were, but it was probably defined by seasons, harvests, or years of a particular lords rule, not dates of the week or months. It would have been a general sense of time.
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If you know I'm wrong then you must have sources that counter my statements? I didn't realize this was my dissertation where I had to back up every statement with a source. Sorry if I can't pull out a primary source on demand, but that doesn't mean it is wrong. I suppose we can't repeat what our professors in medieval history taught us without documentation. Regardless I'm going to keep posting since you seem to love stuff like this.
Since you asked, most people didn't celebrate their birthdays as it was considered a pagan tradition. It likely wasn't until the late 1600's that people would celebrate their birthday. And when I say they didn't know their age, I mean they wouldn't be able to say "I was born April 16, 1022." They would say "I was born 20 summers ago, right after the castle burned down." Even if they knew they were born on Holiday X, most holidays are on moving dates, so your birth date could have varied by up to a month. This isn't even considering that many cultures, countries, and even town started years on different dates. March or April was often considered the first of the year.
In other words, they probably had a vague idea of when they were born and what year it was, but it really didn't matter. They could likely ask the local clergy or scribe, but they could have wildly inaccurate information so how is that any better than not knowing?
I may not be average but I don't live a hard life and I still don't realize I am about to be a day older marking an entire year until that day has come. I honestly don't think about my birthday because I have other things to bother with.
I think people didn't live well enough not to have parties. Even though the production of food was very low and very hard, in some cases harvested amount would be just 2 or 3 times greater than amount sown, and hunger was a constant threat, there were brief periods of plenty.
Due to the low quality of food storage, it made sense to feast and party after harvest. Not for then oft believed reason that gorging in the autumn would help you during the hungry winter or even leaner early spring. But, most of the food used in feasts would be perishable, and could not last long anyway. So better to have a great village party than to be "prudent" and never indulge.
As for original question, I don't know about new years. It could have been commemorated somehow around 1000 ad, but I would doubt with a party. Also, most people wouldn't know then that it was a millenium, and many of those who did expected, as benjaminmktn said, a second coming.
I learned the same thing. Most people thought it was going to be the second coming! Afterward (in Europe), there was a big boost in cathedral building because they thought they'd been given a second chance. Come 2000, well, we sort of gave up.
uhh? what? how old are you?
You seem to recall? Just how old are you, happywaffle???
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Obviously it's eurocentric, smartass, he was asking about the Christian calendar.
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Upvote for apology :)