Language:
English
Year of publication:
2023
Titel der Quelle:
Routledge Handbook on Jewish Ritual and Practice
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2023) 125-136
Keywords:
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Material culture Religious aspects
;
Judaism
;
Jews Books and reading
;
Jewish clothing and dress
;
Jews Homes and haunts
Abstract:
The chapter deals with three categories of material life: books, clothing and houses. All three took part in a long process of historical change. Paper books in the form of a codex generated a cultural and sociological revolution which enhanced literacy and created a reading society. Reading sharpened people’s ability to differentiate and observe, which resulted in a higher degree of sensitivity and self-awareness and generated a new code of dressing, according to which people ought to conceal the natural contour of their bodies as much as possible. Textiles became the major industry of these times with its tremendously variegated fabrics and colors. It was not only the human body which ought to be fully covered. The house too was mainly furnished by textiles: carpets, cushions and draperies with almost every piece of furniture, jars, stools, wall niches, mattresses and large trays, being “dressed” by some kind of textile. Textiles of all kinds replaced the wood furniture of antiquity and totally changed the concept of furnishing a house.
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