Christianae veluti Cereri serta deferebant ... The Baroque Festival in Telč in 1656 as Referred to in the Jesuit Annual Reports
Abstract
The paper discusses the festival of St. Margaret that that took place in Telč in 1656.
It bore the typical hallmarks of a Baroque Gesamtkunstwerk. The paper attempts to interpret these on the basis of the festival programme described in the Jesuit annual reports.
It shows why those who staged the festival linked aspects of both the form and content of the cult of St. Margaret to that of Ceres from classical times.
This connection was made possible by their similar roles as patrons of agriculture and harvests, and the analogous date of the celebrations. The introductory part of the festival had the formal attributes of the rituals of Ceres' cult.
The extent of the synthesis is testified to by the connection of the colour white, lilies, and girls' hairstyles, and by a drama linking general concepts from Antiquity with Christian ones while reflecting real events from everyday life. This pluralism of sources also illustrates that the boundaries between reality and fiction blurred in both the festival and the specific source.