Medieval Festival

This weekend, the 2nd and 3rd of August, the parks of Ann Arbor will become realms of allegory, enchantment and buffoonery as the Ann Arbor Medieval Festival opens its sixth year. Festival performances will be held on Saturday at 11 am in West Park, and at 3 pm in Burns Park. On Sunday there will be a performance at 11 am on the lawn of the Ark Coffeehouse, and at 3pm in the Arboretum meadow. Among the presentations will be drama, satire and mime, as well as rnusic and dance from the medieval period. On the following weekend, August 9th and 10th, a Medieval Fair will take place at the pond by the University of Michigan School of Music. The fair will include repeats of the previous weekend's performances and much more. Proceedings will go from 10 am till dusk and there will be a varied range of traditional arts and crafts for market and display.

Mystery plays featuring irreverent variations on the story of Noah and the parable of "The Prodigal Son" were drawn from authentic medieval sources. A ribald farce based on a story by Boccaccio will be performed in mime. There will be two concerts, one of Gothic music from the 13th century featuring an operetta done troubadour-style of the story of "Robin and Marian," and a concert of sacred and secular dances from the late 15th and 16th centuries. Court dances from late medieval times will be performed, as well as a "Morris dance"-a men's dance embodying practices from pre-Christian fertility rites.

At the Medieval Fair you will be able to observe a wide series of folk arts-spinning, weaving, bob and lace, quilt-making, hand-dyed yarn, wood carving, glass blowing, glass sculpture, stained glass work, jewelry making, and work in copper, silver and gold. There will be icons and hand-made flutes and recorders. Demonstrations will be given of palm reading, astrology and calligraphy.

The Ann Arbor Medieval Festival is the result of the combined efforts of several interested groups from the community. lts sponsors include the University School of Music, the Collegium Musicum, and the Medieval and Renaissance Collegium, as well as local merchants and individual contributors. With the most meager of budgets the Festival has become a gentle and pleasant diversion, one of the most enjoyable events of the summer in Ann Arbor.

The middle ages in Europe were a time between the collapse of an empire and the beginnings of our industrial era. lt was an age when popular culture truly belonged to the people. Satire frequently found its targets among the nobility and clergy, not to mention the rising bourgeoisie. Even prophets and saints were not spared the sharpest barbs. In a time when everything is sacred, nothing is sacred - even the heavenly powers can be objects of jest. Medieval people lived in close touch with both the heavenly and the demonic. They colored their world with allegory and fantasy, yet they were capable of an earthy honesty and an unabashed irreverence. Their theater and fairs were occasions tbr an entire community's participation. In Ann Arbor we are fortunate enough to be able to taste such a life-style, and it's all absolutely free.