In the Middle Ages, the jester was dedicated to entertaining the king.
Jester is a term that has its origin in the Italian language. The concept can be used to name a character similar to a clown whose purpose is to provoke laughter and entertain the public.
In ancient times, jesters had the role of livening up the days of monarchs . The jester used jokes and pranks of all kinds with the intention of providing entertainment. That is why his presence was common at court events.
Clowns, however, were usually people with physical abnormalities , so they provoked laughter through their bodies and their gestures, beyond what they expressed in their routines. It could be said that, on many occasions, kings laughed at clowns, and not at their actions.
The term jester today
Today, the term is not used very often. The character dedicated to livening up parties and developing comic shows is called a clown . A jester, on the other hand, is used as an adjective to describe a person who tends to cause grace , whether intentionally or unintentionally .
For example: "If you want to get a job, you have to behave seriously in interviews: nobody wants to hire a clown" , "The actor expressed his intentions to work in a dramatic film, as he intends to show that he is more than a clown" , "Don't be a clown, take off that mask and go back to class" .
Today a jester can be a clown or a comic artist.
Other uses of the concept
Another use of the concept of jester that is recognized by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) is associated with the idea of a peddler . A peddler is a person who sells merchandise informally and without a fixed space, which in some countries is known as a street vendor .
In geology , a bufon is a formation found in beach areas. It is a crack that acts as a chimney that opens in cliffs and is linked to marine chasms (cavities that connect to the outside through vertical conduits or wells or on steep slopes and that arise from karstic erosion, that is, from chemical weathering).
As with other natural formations , the blowhole attracts many people because it offers a truly impressive picture and a spectacle when the sea water comes out with force towards the surface, as if it were a cold water geyser . For this expulsion to occur, the sea must be at high tide, that is, the water must have reached its maximum height in the tidal cycle; at that moment, if the water hits strongly against a cliff that has a blowhole, then it will come out with force upwards emitting a very particular sound.
This sound is similar to a snort, a peculiar noise that certain animals make when they are angry, and it is from this term that the name jester is derived in this case, unlike its other meanings. It is worth mentioning that the snort of the jester can be heard many kilometres away.
Training of a jester
The formation of a blowhole occurs due to the constant erosion of seawater against karst reliefs, mainly limestone cliffs, which it makes holes in at the bottom once it penetrates the weakest points and begins to dissolve the limestone while forming caves and galleries whose extension towards the interior can reach 100 meters .
It is interesting to note that blowholes are often formed in groups, although each one has a different power . Regarding their specific location, they are very common on the eastern coast of Asturias, in Spain , due to its geological characteristics such as fractures perpendicular to the sea and limestone materials from the Paleozoic. Among the most famous blowholes are those of Pría , Santiuste and Arenillas .