Reading 3 Question 1: Socio-Cultural Function of the feasts of Corpus Christi

To begin, I really enjoyed the aphorism in class of the feast of Corpus Christi as "metaphorical cannibalism," as the socio-cultural function of these feasts were a mass celebration of Christ. The aforementioned cannibalism refers to a metaphorical celebration of the Body of Christ in the "host consecrated at the mass" (p. 5). In many religious sects, the Body is symbolized by unleavened bread, and it's the action of partaking of the bread that symbolizes eating of the Body of Christ. But that this word into a more denotative stance and the stigmas associated with cannibalism, how the very act is defined as humans eating other human flesh, and the implications of this methaphorical cannibalism become more clear.

Christ said, "This is my body, take of it and eat." Is this to say he viewed cannibalism as acceptable? Although the bread is seen as his body, how literal should we take the interpretation that this is of the flesh?

Yet this Body also served as peace and unity of the church, a coming together to show social wholeness and social affirmation, wholeness being shown in the play cycle from depictions of Creation to Domesday (p. 15). This body politic was a celebration of the town itself, and inasmuch the body became the pre-eminent symbol in terms of which society was conceived. Social order in this sense found its nature in body. The plays of Corpus Christi, then, became an occassion in which the urban community learned to discern itself from the outside world (p. 12).
It can be argued that several socio-political interests were served by these festivities, but the influx probably most helped the middle class. Jones noted that the flurry of strangers helped the activity of the urban markets (p. 13), and although these events were attended by spectators such as monarchs and nobles, the it's evidenced by the dramatic initiative of the gild organizations that it was their interests that were forefront (p. 14). He also noted that unskilled gilds with no trade did not offer a play (p. 16). Overall, the Corpus Christi play provided a means for honor and status could be distributed among the middle class.