Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569).
'The Battle between Carnival and Lent', 1559
A battle enacted between the figures Carnival and Lent was
an important event in community life in early modern Europe,
representing the transition between two different seasonal cuisines:
livestock that was not to be wintered was slaughtered, and meat
was in good supply. As the period of Lent commenced, with its
enforced abstinence and the concomitant spiritual purification
in preparation for Easter, the butcher shops closed and
the butchers travelled into the countryside to purchase
cattle for the spring
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The figure of Carnival was a fat man who led a procession
through the town and presided over a large feast.In Bruegel's
painting the figure is a large man riding a wine barrel,
wearing a huge pie as a head-dress; he is wielding a long spit,
complete with a pig's head, as a weapon for the fight.
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