The Middle Ages weren’t as dreary and desperate as you’d think, and peasants often had weeks of idle time during the holidays. On Christmas Day, the party was just getting started.

As a professor of medieval history, I can assure you the popular belief that the lives of peasants were little more than misery is a misconception. They enjoyed rich social lives – maybe richer than ours – ate well, celebrated frequently and had families not unlike our own. For them, holiday festivities didn’t begin with Christmas Eve and end with New Year’s.

The party was just getting started.