"Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
Where Beane's the King of the sport here;
Besdies, we must know,
The Pea also
Must revolt, as Queene, in the Courts here."
___ Robert Herrick, "Twelfth Night"
The Lord of Misrule governed the celebrations of this January day. He was appointed from the company by drawing the slice of cake with the bean in it and would devise games and forfeits for the company.
The Lord of Misrule governs in the holidays that are outside temporal time, when misrule (or disorder), revelry, and games take the place of order, sobriety, and work. The function of misrule is the mixing up of one reality with another. Within the resultant confusion, we enter the clown's world wherein the proud are humbled, the usual becomes the unusual, the tight-lipped are made to laugh, and the tight-fisted are made to pay up. Societies that do not have the safety valve of seasonal misrule become monolithic, dour, and life-denying.
Lords and Ladies of Misrule are supreme magicians who bring good cheer through a healthy mockery of institutions both loved and hated. The ability to laugh at what we hold dear is not disrespectful: if we cannot take a joke about precious things, we do not share the divine sense of humor that rules the universe and is probably responsible for life itself. The opportunity to laugh at what we fear is god-given, since it releases us from the shackles of fear itself and lessens fear's powerful hold over us.
The ones who goven the Court of Misrule are truly mediators of freedom, to whome we owe considerable respect and not a few custard pies!
"Overturn you usual custonms. Do something uncharacteristic. By no means do any meditation today! Find your own freedom instead."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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