The Festal Year

THE Festal Epistles of S. Athanasius, as far as they are extant, are now, for the first time, presented to the English reader. In undertaking to superintend the publication of them, the Editor was, to some extent, aware of the difficulty of the task. In carrying it out, he has not hesitated to make numerous and important alterations in the translation as put into his hands, and not a few passages have been entirely re-modelled by him. He must, therefore, be held responsible for the errors contained in the following pages. Aeterna Press

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Long remembered chiefly for its modernist exhibitions on the South Bank in London, the 1951 Festival of Britain also showcased British artistic creativity in all its forms. In Tonic to the Nation, Nathaniel G. Lew tells the story of the English classical music and opera composed and revived for the Festival, and explores how these long-overlooked components of the Festival helped define English music in the post-war period. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, Lew looks closely at the work of the newly chartered Arts Council of Great Britain, for whom the Festival of Britain provided the first chance to assert its authority over British culture. The Arts Council devised many musical programs for the Festival, including commissions of new concert works, a vast London Season of almost 200 concerts highlighting seven centuries of English musical creativity, and several schemes to commission and perform new operas. These projects were not merely directed at bringing audiences to hear new and old national music, but to share broader goals of framing the national repertory, negotiating between the conflicting demands of conservative and progressive tastes, and using music to forge new national definitions in a changed post-war world.

The book focusses on the origin and transformation of the priestly festival calendar. Since the epoch-making work of Julius Wellhausen at the end of the 19th century the differences between the various ancient Israelite festival calendars have often been explained in terms of a gradual evolution, which shows an increasing historicisation, denaturalisation and ritualisation. The festivals were in Wellhausen's view gradually detached from agricultural conditions and celebrated more and more at fixed points in the year. This study tries to show that the changes in the priestly festival calendar reflect a conscious effort to adapt the ancient Israelite festival calendar to the semi-annual layout of the Babylonian festival year. The ramifications of the change only come to the fore after a careful study of the agricultural conditions of ancient Israel - and Mesopotamia - makes clear that passover and the festival of unleavened bread were originally celebrated in the second month of the year. The first month of the year envisaged by the priestly festival calendar for the celebration of passover and the festival of unleavened bread in turn mirrors the date of one of the two semi-annual Babylonian New Year festivals. The two Babylonian New Year festivals were celebrated exactly six months apart at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. In order to adapt the ancient Israelite festival calendar to the Babylonian scheme with two New Year festivals a year, the date of passover and the festival of unleavened bread had to be moved up by one month. The consequences for the origin of passover, the festival of unleavened bread, the festival of weeks and the festival of huts are charted and the relations between the various ancient Israelite festival calendars are determined anew.

Excerpt from The Festal Year: Or, the Origin, History, Ceremonies and Meaning of the Sundays, Seasons, Feasts and Festivals of the Church During the Year, Explained for the People In the days of the infancy of the Christian Church, when, with a mighty wind, the Holy Ghost in tongues of fire came down on the Apostles, he breathed into them his own divine wisdom, and kindled in their hearts the fire of his love. Thus enlightened with the light of that fire from heaven and moved by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles and the followers of Christ dedicated the year, its days, its times and its seasons to the memory of the Saviour, to the mysteries of our redemption, and to the work of the Spirit of God, in saving the generations of men, as they come and go upon the stage of this world. They took the finest passages and parts of the Old and of the New Testaments, the inspired words of the ancient Patriarchs, the magnificent canticles of the Prophets, the simple yet sublime writings of the Apostles and their successors, and of them formed for each Sunday, Season, Feast and Festival, an Office of praise, of prayer and of thanksgiving unto God. Such was the beginning of that striking and magnificent ceremonial or Liturgy of the Church, called the Latin Rite. In the following pages will be opened up before you, in a clear and simple manner, the origin, history, meaning and ceremonies of the Christian Year, which the Church uses in her public Services, when her prayers, her praises, and her thanksgivings ascend ever up before the throne of God. Spouse of Christ, and directed by the Holy Spirit, she offers daily unto our Creator a Service and a Sacrifice worthy of the Godhead and worthy of our study. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.