(7) triptych format and center panel

The simplest way to describe the center panel is to say that it represents the general idea of a special day in a religious calendar, specifically the Sabbath and also including images of a series of events in the Jewish calendar. The triptych format illustrates Christian and Jewish concepts of time, including beginning, end, and the seven-day week, which were news to Americans. The festivals are recognizable even though people are not all behaving as they should. This is another theme that Bruegel represented more clearly, in a print that shows one festival and a range of good and bad behavior.