In exploring the religion of the eighth and ninth centuries, this chapter inevitably explores its society too. Differentiations of religious experience by gender and by status are pointed out. The religion of the laity was as variegated as lay society itself. In surveying the religion of Europe over two centuries of pervasive change, one may well ask what the religion of the urban population of, say, early medieval Milan had in common with that of the new converts in Charlemagne's Saxony. Baptism provides an answer. Baptism distinguished Christians from non-Christians, the fideles from the pagani. Social status affected the way people participated in ecclesiastical celebrations. For the rich, festivals such as Christmas were opportunities to bedeck themselves in their finest apparel. In the course of the eighth and ninth centuries, the clergy of the Christian church took a steadily growing part in shaping the ritual and liturgy which encompassed so many aspects of human existence.