July 22: MM and Ratcatcher Day!?
Yesterday my son and I sat in the children’s literature section of the UW library, randomly picking up books and giving them a read. I came across several copies of Robert Browning’s “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” and decided to read it. Much to my surprise, the date Browning gave for the Pied Piper’s “abduction” of the town’s children was July 22nd (the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene).
A quick Wikipedia search this morning revealed that the oldest versions of the legend place the children’s removal on June 26th, and that it wasn’t until the 16th century that not only was the date changed, but the rat infestation component of the story was added. It is possible, the article notes, that the disappearance of the children and the rat infestation were two distinct events that became merged in popular memory.
Regardless, this is a July 22nd event that I hadn’t been previously aware of. Apparently there is even a “Ratcatcher’s Day” celebrated on either June 26th or July 22nd to commemorate the work of the Pied Piper.
How very odd.
No Comments
This entry is filed under Culture and tagged with Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, July 22, Pied Piper, Ratcatcher's Day.
You can also follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Or perhaps you're just looking for the trackback and/or the permalink.