medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Meg,
I'm afraid this isn't 100% germane, but you bring back memories ...
I had a piece of Old English prose to translate unseen for my English
degree (can't remember whether it was Mods or Finals now! - but 1981 or
1983 in any case). The piece was helpfully entitled ''The nun, the
lettuce and the devil":
A nun was told to gather a lettuce for the convent's meal, but for all
she pulled the lettuce would not uproot. The Mother Superior, who was a
very saintly woman, went to investigate, saw the devil sitting on the
lettuce and realised that the nun hadn't made the sign of the cross (ne
hadde mid rode gebletsode, I think it was). Upon the nun's correctly
making the sign, the devil fled and the lettuce came out of the ground ....
For lettuce possibly read cabbage. It was a long time ago.
Jane
On 09/12/2015 19:05, Cormack, Margaret Jean wrote:
> It immediately occurs to me that crossing oneself before eating was recommended in the pre-Reformation western church, though that's presumably an apotropaic device rather than an expression of gratitude.
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