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01 June 2012

A Calendar Page for June 2012

For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.

Add 18852 ff. 6v-7

Calendar pages for June, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 6v-7

Most calendars depict June as a month of true labour, a time to leave behind the pleasures of early spring.  This is largely the case for this calendar, but not entirely, as we can see on the left-hand folio above.  Two men are at work mowing in a walled meadow, but a couple of their fellows have put down their tools to relax on the grass and have a drink.  A well-dressed lady seems to be entering the meadow to join them (presumably in the drinking rather than the mowing).  At the top of the facing folio is a strange-looking crab for Cancer, while at the bottom is a scene of men and a woman mowing hay and gathering it into bundles.  At the upper right another group is at work winching these bundles into a barn. 

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