Food
Although intended to imitate a meal that might have been served during the Middle Ages, the food at a madrigal dinner is often regional and will vary from show to show. Courses usually include a wassail or drinks course, salad, a main course and dessert. Although the Boar's Head Carol is the most popular madrigal song to announce the main course, the most popular meat for the main course is chicken, often specifically Cornish game hen.
During the song which accompanies each course, a symbolic object may be carried to the kings throne by two or more ceremonial guards. A boar's head is the universal symbol of the main course. However, since the head is not actually part of the meal and will be used for many years, most madrigal dinners use an imperishable head. Sometimes this is the head of a real boar, pig, or javelina, preserved by taxidermy and sometimes it is a replica, made from papier-mâché or plaster. The Boar's Head Carol equates the presentation of the head with the presence of Christ in the festivities.
Read more about this topic: Madrigal Dinner
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