Online Encyclopedia

KERMESSE (also KERMIS and KIRMESS)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 757 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KERMESSE (also KERMIS and KIRMESS)  , originally the mass said on the anniversary of the foundation of a church and in honour of the
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patron, the word being
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equivalent to " Kirkmass." Such celebrations were regularly held in the Low Countries and also in
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northern France, and were accompanied by feasting, dancing and sports of all kinds . They still survive, but are now practically nothing more than country fairs and the old allegorical representations are uncommon . The Brussels Kermesse is, however, still marked by a procession in which the effigies of the Mannikin and
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medieval heroes are carried . At Mons the Kermesse occurs annually on Trinity
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Sunday and is called the procession of Lumegon (Walloon for limacon, a
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snail): the hero is Gilles de
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Chin, who slays a terrible monster, captor of a princess, in the
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Grand Place . This is the story of George and the Dragon . At Hasselt the Kermesse (now only septennial) not only commemorates the Christian story of the foundation of the
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town, but even preserves traces of a pagan festival . The word Kermesse (generally in the form " Kirmess ") is applied in the
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United States to any entertainment, especially one organized in the
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interest of charity . See
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Demetrius C . Boulger, Belgian
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Life in Town and Country (1904) .

End of Article: KERMESSE (also KERMIS and KIRMESS)
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