Read it through once

But by far the most important recreation was feasting. In fact, to Elizabethans the word recreation itself primarily meant enjoying a leisurely, well-prepared meal and so re-creating or renewing mind and body. Farmers were instructed that at “the feastes that belong to the plough, the meaning is onely to joy and be glad for comfort with labour would sometimes be had.” And there is every reason to believe they were joyful and relaxed. One of the best observers of Elizabethan England wrote: