SC - Break Fast, Dinner, Supper...

[Stefan li Rous]

Anahita al-shazhiyya asked:
> As a non-Christian mundanely with a non-Christian SCA persona, when 
> was the first mass? Noon?

As another non-Christian, I too have trouble keeping track of the
various church times. However, they did set the rhythum for the day
throughout much of medieval Europe.

The following is from this file in the NICOLAA'S ARTICLES section of
my Florilegium files:
time-art          (17K)  7/17/94    Article on the medieval concepts of time.

> The day was divided into two halves, light
> and dark, rather than two twelve-hour periods; thus, in winter, an "hour"
> would be longer at night than during the day.  I would probably
> be aware of the seven "canonical hours" (Matins, Prime, Terce, Sext,
> None, Vespers, and Compline), but how these corresponded with the
> actual hour of the day would vary with the seasons and the length of
> the day.  These canonical hours were selected by St. Benedict as the
> hours the monks would observe the daily offices:  three ( terce --the
> third hour of the morning;  sext -- the sixth hour, around midday;
> and none -- the ninth hour, in the afternoon) were the publicly
> announced changing of the Roman guards, and four ( matins -- the
> dawning sky; prime -- sunrise; vespers --sunset; and compline --
> complete darkness) were tied to nature.  Bells were rung at these
> hours to call the monks to prayers;  those in towns or near a
> monastery would doubtless be familiar with them.   You will note that
> it is possible to tell time in a medieval manner at Pennsic, even on a
> cloudy day:  the "canonical hours" consist of the thrice-daily cry of
> the camp at 10 am, 1 pm, and 4 pm (these are last year's hours), along
> with the medieval hours of lightening sky, dawn, sunset, and complete darkness

This file in the TIME section also touches on this topic:
clocks-msg        (19K)  7/23/99    Medieval clocks and concepts of time.

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****