Week Six: Time and Seasons
Central to HIldegard was the integration of the concepts of Benedictine balance and Celtic seasons.
As a Benedictine, Hildegard would have alternated feasting and fasting. Indeed, she has left us rather detailed instructions for three kinds of fasting, with recommendations for diet for each season. See this link for detailed instructions from Hildegard.
Feast days were associated with either a liturgical celebration ( such as Christmas, Pentecost, Easter) or the feast day of a particular saint. By far the most popular saint in the MIddle Ages was the Virgin Mary- there were separate feast days for her nativity, presentation, conception, the Annunciation and more. There were mandated Major feast days by the Catholic Church in which all laborers must be released from their work to attend special services; for monks and nuns, feast days meant musical variety, rituals recounting the lives of the saints and additional wine and dessert. Some of the saints were universally celebrated throughout Medieval Christendom (Like JOhn the Baptist on June 24 and Mary Magdalene on July 22), other saints only had "local" or "regional" saints. Hildegard wrote special music, for example, for the Feastdays of St. Disibod and St.Ursula who were deeply venerated in her local community.
As a Benedictine, Hildegard would have alternated feasting and fasting. Indeed, she has left us rather detailed instructions for three kinds of fasting, with recommendations for diet for each season. See this link for detailed instructions from Hildegard.
Feast days were associated with either a liturgical celebration ( such as Christmas, Pentecost, Easter) or the feast day of a particular saint. By far the most popular saint in the MIddle Ages was the Virgin Mary- there were separate feast days for her nativity, presentation, conception, the Annunciation and more. There were mandated Major feast days by the Catholic Church in which all laborers must be released from their work to attend special services; for monks and nuns, feast days meant musical variety, rituals recounting the lives of the saints and additional wine and dessert. Some of the saints were universally celebrated throughout Medieval Christendom (Like JOhn the Baptist on June 24 and Mary Magdalene on July 22), other saints only had "local" or "regional" saints. Hildegard wrote special music, for example, for the Feastdays of St. Disibod and St.Ursula who were deeply venerated in her local community.
In our modern world, we have lost the rhythm of nature. We eat food from halfway across the world and import flowers from other countries at great environmental cost. Hildegard understood the importance of living in balance with the elements and the seasons, and would have honored them all.
The following recipe has been adapted from Hildegard's 12th century volume Physica: Liber Simplicis Medicina ) Hildegard of Bingen believed that these spice biscuits should be taken t regular intervals to increase joy and health.
Minutes to Prepare: 10
Minutes to Cook: 15
Ingredients
DirectionsCream together softened butter with the brown sugar. Beat in the egg. Sift the dry ingredients. Add half the dry ingredients and mix. Add the other half and mix thoroughly. Heat oven to 350°. Form small balls of dough, place on greased and floured cookie sheet and press flat. Bake 12-15 minutes (till edges of are golden brown.)
Cool for 5 minutes, remove from cookie sheet and finish cooling on racks.
Minutes to Prepare: 10
Minutes to Cook: 15
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup plain flour - 3/4 cup spelt flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves - pinch ginger
DirectionsCream together softened butter with the brown sugar. Beat in the egg. Sift the dry ingredients. Add half the dry ingredients and mix. Add the other half and mix thoroughly. Heat oven to 350°. Form small balls of dough, place on greased and floured cookie sheet and press flat. Bake 12-15 minutes (till edges of are golden brown.)
Cool for 5 minutes, remove from cookie sheet and finish cooling on racks.