These festivals, many of which still survive today, matched the changing seasons. So Lent, marking the 40 days that Christ fasted in the desert, took place at the end of winter, when fresh food was scarce. Throughout Lent, Christians were also expected to fast, by giving up all animal products except fish. Easter, celebrating his resurrection from the dead, saw the coming of spring, bringing new life to the world. It was as if the whole of nature was working to the rhythms of Christianity.

Winter festivals

The biggest holiday of the year was Christmas, in the dead of winter when there was no farm work to be done. On Christmas Eve, the church was decorated with holy and ivy. The following morning, it was filled with candles, in a blaze of light to welcome the birth of Christ. This marked the beginning of 12 days of feasting and merriment.

Christmas was followed by Plough Monday, in early January, marking the beginning of the ploughing season. The young men dragged a garlanded plough around their village, collecting money for the parish funds, some of it used to pay for a big celebration called an "ale". They then brought the plough into the church to be blessed by the priest. At Cawston Church in Norfolk, you can still see  a "Plough Gallery", where the garlanded plough was displayed. The gallery is decorated with this poem:

"God spede the plow
And send us corn enow
Our purpose for to mak
At crow of cok of the plowgate of Sygate
Be mery and glade
Wat Goodale this work mad"

The last line is a pun, meaning both "Wat Goodale made this gallery" and "What a good party we had!"

Plough Monday is celebrated today by Morris Dancers

February 2 was Candlemas, celebrating the Purification of the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ's presentation in the temple. All the parishioners marched in a procession, each carrying a candle, which was blessed by the priest and lit. This symbolised the end of winter, and the coming of the month which drove darkness from the afternoons.

Lent began with Ash Wednesday, when the priest blessed ashes and scattered them on the heads of the people, warning them that they were "dust, and unto dust they would return". All the crosses and images of saints in the church were now covered up with white cloths, and a white curtain, called a rood cloth, was spread across the chancel, the holy eastern end of the church. The cloth hid the high altar, where the priest said mass, from the worshippers.

The first week of Lent was called "Shrove-tide" - the time of confession. The people confessed to their priest, who gave them penances to wipe out their sins. After performing penances, such as saying a set number of prayers, they received communion. This meant that they were allowed to eat the holy bread, which was thought to have been transformed by the priest into the body of Christ. The bread was believed to possess great power, and people sometimes pretended to swallow it so that they could carry it away to wear as a charm against bad luck.

Holy Week

Lent ended with "Holy Week", when the events leading up to Christ's death were re-enacted. It began with Palm Sunday, marking Christ's entry into Jerusalem, when the Jews spread palms in his path. The priest blessed "palms'' - branches from evergreen trees, such as the yew grown in the churchyard - and handed them to the people. Holding their branches, they marched in a procession around the church, and entered by the west door to see the priest dramatically throw back the white cloth hiding the altar. At the sight of the image of Christ on the cross, everyone knelt and shouted three times, "Ave Rex Noster!" (Hail our King!).

On Maundy Thursday, the wealthiest people washed the feet of the 13 poorest parishioners. This marked Christ washing the feet of his disciples during the Last Supper. The day was popularly known as "Sharp Thursday", because it was the time when people cut their hair and trimmed their beards in preparation for Easter. Until the 17th century, it was the custom for the monarch to wash the feet of selected poor people as a gesture of humility on this day.

Good Friday

Good Friday was the day of Christ's death by crucifixion. The priest crawled on his hands and knees to the cross in the church, and kissed it. He then carried it through the nave so that everyone else could kneel and kiss it in turn. Then he re-enacted Christ's burial by placing the cross, along with the host (holy bread), in a miniature tomb called an Easter sepulchre. This usually took the form of a small recess in the wall of the chancel. You can still see these in many medieval churches.

Holy Saturday

On Holy Saturday, people waited for Christ's resurrection. In the late afternoon, they gathered inside the church, in total darkness. Outside, the priest struck a new fire from a flint, and lit a candle, which he carried into the church. This showed that Christ was on his way back from the dead.

Easter vigil, St Joseph's Catholic Church, Roehampton, London
© ArkReligion.com / Alamy

Easter Sunday

The day of the resurrection, Easter Sunday, was a time of great joy. It began before dawn, when the cross and holy bread were brought out of the Easter sepulchre and carried around the church in a procession. In many churches, people placed carved angels beside the empty sepulchre, recalling those supposed to have appeared by Christ's tomb. The white cloths which had hidden the crosses and images of saints since Ash Wednesday were now removed. The saints were now visibly present, and able to hear and answer prayers addressed to them.

Even those who were not devout loved Easter Sunday, for it marked the end of Lent. Now they could give up the long fast, and eat animal products again. This was marked in the church with the blessing and eating of eggs. On the same day, people cleaned their houses, sprinkling fresh rushes and flowers on the floor. The following days were filled with feasting and games, in a celebration second only to Christmas.