### ASINI, FESTA DEGLI (Feast of the Ass)
Medieval religious and paraliturgical celebration commemorating the role of the ass in various episodes of Sacred Scripture (the ass of the Flight into Egypt, the ass of Balaam, and especially the ass of the Nativity at Bethlehem, known only from the apocryphal Gospels). It flourished particularly in France during the 12th–14th centuries, and the dramatic action varied according to local customs and the events being commemorated.
At Rouen, for instance, the feast of the ass was celebrated at Christmas, after the singing of Terce. From the cloister of the cathedral a procession set out, composed of prophets and other Old Testament figures, led by two singing clerics. Once inside the church, they halted midway down the nave, where a kind of brazier had been lit (linteo et stupis constituita), flanked on one side by six Jews and on the other by six Gentiles. The two clerics then called each figure forward one by one, and each, advancing, recited his prophecy. When it came to Balaam’s turn, he approached seated upon an ass, which stopped short and refused to move; the prophet struck it, spurred it in vain, and the beast spoke: “Why do you strike me?” In reality, someone hidden beneath the animal’s trappings was speaking (quidam sub anine dicat). After the roll call, the figures and ministers sang a kind of hymn from the pulpit, and then the Christmas Mass began.
At Beauvais, by contrast, the feast was held on 14 January (intended to recall the Flight into Egypt), but took on a more lighthearted tone. A young girl, chosen for her beauty, richly caparisoned ass, and carrying a child in her arms, made a grand procession from the cathedral to the parish church of St Stephen, where she remained throughout the solemn Mass at the right side of the altar. At the end of Mass, instead of the usual *Ite, missa est*, the priest imitated the braying of an ass three times (*ter hinhannabit*), and the people, instead of *Deo gratias*, responded with *hin-han! hin-han! hin-han!* Indeed, during the Mass itself, after the Epistle, there was sung what was called the “prose of the ass,” composed in leonine verse, in which each stanza extolling the beast’s qualities and services was followed by a refrain in the vernacular: *“Hez, sir asne, hez – belle bouche rechignez – on aura du foin asez – et de l'avoine a planté.”*
At first restrained within modest bounds, the representation soon evolved toward increasingly burlesque tones. Thus at Sens in 1247, the clerics took part in the feast adorned with flowers and even in disguise. In the 14th century, probably through contamination with “the Feast of Fools,” the ass, entering the church in triumph, was greeted by canons holding bottles and glasses, and was “incensed” with puddings and sausages (*“hoc die incensabitur cum budino et saucita”*).
As the excesses grew over the years, the feast of the ass could no longer be permitted or tolerated, and by the 15th century it had virtually disappeared everywhere.