Schedule of Weekly Readings, Questions, and Written Assignments

Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Europe, 21-86

Chapter 1

1. What do the following terms mean: baptism, godparent, caul, churching, youth-abbey, aiguillette, ars moriendi, purgatory?

2. What are the phases of rites of passage devised by Arnold van Gennep? How do the various rites of passage that Muir discusses manifest these phases?

3. What are the key features of rituals surrounding birth, the transition to adulthood, marriage, and dying and death?

Chapter 2

4. How does the liturgical calendar work? What is its significance? What are the seasons of the liturgical year?

5. What are moveable feasts? How many can you name after reading this chapter? What do the feasts that you have identified celebrate?

6. What would you call a feast that is not moveable? How many of these can you name? 7. How are the week, the day, and the hour suffused with ritual significance?

8. What affect did the Reformation have on the "ritual moment"?

9. What was the Divine Office?

10. When was Easter Sunday celebrated in Rome the year in which the Thirty Years War began? When did Western Easter take place this year? When will it take place next year? When it will take place in 3000? Use the relevant tool below. Have your answers ready for class!

  • Do you know the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars? If not, find out. When did the Gregorian calendar come into effect?

  • Calculation of the Ecclesiastical Calendar: how to find out when Easter (Eastern and Western rites) occurs/occurred along with links to other sites related to ritual calendars, including:.
  • Jewish Holidays.
  • Calendar of the Orthodox Church.
  • The Catholic Calendar Page.
  • The current Catholic liturgical calendar.
  • The Liturgy of the Hours.