The Feast of the Ass held on January 14 from around 1100 until 1500 was meant as much as a teach-in as a party-in, a way to present religious doctrine to the illiterati who had no books or Internet access. This festival, held primarily in France as a cousin to the Feast of Fools, celebrated the flight of Joseph, Mary and Jesus into Egypt.
Traditionally, the most beautiful young woman in the village splendidly attired in gold-embroidered cloth, carrying a small child and riding a donkey would be led in a solemn procession through the town to the church. The donkey would stand beside the altar while a mock Mass was performed. Instead of the usual responses to the priest, the congregation would “hee-haw.” At the end of the service, instead of the usual benediction, the priest would bray three times and the congregation would respond with another round of hee-hawing. The choir would then offer up a hymn and everyone would bray along — except for the ass who thought the whole thing rather ridiculous and that these people were all making you know whats of themselves.
Talk to the Donkey
Yes, Doctor Doolittle could talk to the animals, including donkeys. And much more. He ran a post office, a circus and a zoo, took voyages to exotic places around the world, went to the moon. According to the neighborhood mussel-man, he was a nacheralist – “a man who knows all about animals and butterflies and plants and rocks an’ all.” Not only could he talk to and understand animals, he had written history books in monkey-talk, poetry in canary language and songs for magpies to sing. He didn’t just talk to your normal animals like pigs, rats, owls, seals and badgers but to pushmi-pullyus and wiff-waffs as well.
January 1
4 is a red letter day for children who love to read and love animals. Two major authors who spent their lifetimes entertaining the younger set were born on this day 12 years and an ocean apart.
Hugh Lofting, creator of the amazing Doctor Doolittle from Puddleby-on-the-Marsh, was born in 1886 in Maidenhead, England. He wrote a dozen books featuring the doctor , a character he first created in letters to his children during his World War I service in the Irish Guards. The Story of Doctor Doolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed began the series in 1920 and was followed two years later by The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.
Born on Cape Cod in 1874, Thornton Burgess was a conservationist and prolific writer of 
children’s books, producing 170 books between 1910 and 1965. His books celebrated nature, featuring the many animals that lived in the Green Meadow and Green Forest.
Mother West Wind “How” Stories, an early collection of 16 stories, told how Lightfoot the Deer learned to jump, how the eyes of Old Mr. Owl became fixed, how Drummer the Woodpecker came by his red cap and so on. Other collections told when, where and why various animal things happened – Wild Kingdom without Marlin Perkins or TV commercials The anthropomorphic forest and meadow creatures that had their own adventure books included Peter Rabbit, Jimmy Skunk, Grandfather Frog, Little Joe Otter, Granny Fox, Jerry Muskrat and Digger the Badger to name just a few.
Wretched Richard's Almanac 