The Feast of Fools
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
A kind of Saturnalia, popular in the Middle Ages. Its chief object was to honour the ass on which Our Lord made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The Feast of Fools” mean?
A kind of Saturnalia, popular in the Middle Ages. Its chief object was to honour the ass on which Our Lord made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
Is “The Feast of Fools” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.