Easter laughter: the hilarious and controversial medieval history of religious jokes

By Seb Coxon, Reader in German, UCL

Just how serious is Easter? For non-churchgoers (like myself) with a sweet tooth (guilty, again) the answer to this question is probably: not very, although the chocolate eggs are welcome. For the more devout, Easter is an incredibly serious business.

And yet, there has always been scope for joy and laughter in Easter celebrations. The early Christian tradition of risus paschalis – Easter laughter – is alive and well in congregations around the world. Historically-minded preachers hark back to the view, first offered by the Church Fathers, that Jesus’s resurrection represents…

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