Enchanted Time

“Enchantment” is a term used by historians and scholars, whose origins can be traced back to the 13th century, and means an act of magic or witchcraft (Online Etymology Dictionary). It originates from the French word “encantement” meaning magical spell or a song, chorus, concert and the Latin word “incantare”, which means to cast a spell upon (Dictionary.com). “Enchantment” serves as an important term for understanding the beliefs of late medieval people. For them, the world was full of mystery and wonder because there was much in nature they could not explain with science or reason. Strong belief in supernatural entities dominated the thinking and understanding of people during the late medieval time period.

In Wunderli’s narrative account of the peasant uprising in Niklashausen, Germany during the late 15th century, Peasant Fires, he uses the term “enchanted time” to refer to the way people viewed the world during specific, holy seasons in the late Medieval time period (Wunderli, 1992, Peasant fires: The drummer of Niklashausen). The enchantment came from people’s belief there was a “translucent, porous barrier” that separated the physical and spiritual worlds (p. 8). During holy times in the Church calendar, like Lent, Advent, Christmas, and Easter, the barrier was seen as thinner than other times during the year, meaning there was more opportunity for people to encounter and access the spiritual world. Wunderli refers to these important church events as “enchanted time” (p. 9).

Both major Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter, were preceded by periods of waiting and fasting as Christians prepared for the celebrations of Christ’s birth and resurrection respectively. These times of preparation, known as Advent and Lent, called Christians to prepare their hearts for the arrival of their savior. Both required people to invest more time in prayer and interacting with the spiritual realm. During Lent, in particular, there was a call for Christians to fast from meat. Fasting as a discipline of religious practice forced people to rely on something other than themselves for sustenance and energy. For Christians, this pulled them closer to God as they called for Him to provide what they need to get through their day. This call to rely more fully on God added to these times of the year being “enchanted.”

During enchanted times of the year, there was a much higher chance of interactions with spiritual forces, be it saints, angels, devils, or in the case of Hans Behem, a shepherd from the Tauber Valley in Germany who lived in the 15th century, the Virgin Mary (Wunderli, 1992, Peasant fires: The drummer of Niklashausen, p. 2).

Moving forward in history, thanks to the Age of Enlightenment, more focus on reason and logical thinking, and the growth in the study of science there is a “disenchantment” that takes place. Max Weber explains that as rational thinking develops and grows, it replaces previously held beliefs (Gerardi, 2012,  The dialectical relationship between religion and the ideology of science, p. 50). As more can be explained by rational thinking, the enchantment of the world seen during the late medieval years fades away.

Works Cited

1. Enchantment. (n.d.). In Online Etymology Dictionary. Date Accessed: 9/12/17 Retrieved

from: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=enchantment.

2. Enchantment. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved September 17,         

2017 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/enchantment.

3. Wunderli, R. (1992). Peasant fires: The drummer of Niklashausen.         

Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana.

4. Wunderli, R. (1992).
5. Gerardi, S. (2012). The dialectical relationship between religion and the ideology of science.

Sociology Mind, 2(1), 50-52.