OK, without Googling…. How old was Juliet Capulet?
OK, without Googling…. How old was Juliet Capulet? The answer is……13. “She hath not seen the change of fourteen years,” Shakespeare has her father say. Romeo’s age isn’t given in the play, but usually he is portrayed as being about 16. What was her birthday? Today! “On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen,” her nurse says. So, Juliet was born on Lammas-eve, which is today, July 31. Lammas Day is a traditional English Christian holiday celebrated on August 1. The word “Lammas” comes from “Loaf Mass,” and likely derived from a pagan Anglo-Saxon ritual. On Lammas a loaf of bread baked from the first newly harvested grain of the season is blessed and (in Church of England tradition) then used in communion. Lammas also signifies the end of the hay harvest, which is celebrated with a festival. So, at the time of her tragic death, Juliet was two weeks shy of her 14th birthday, which would have occurred the day before the Lammas celebration. Set in 14th century Italy, “R...