The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters

Some were childhood friends who had been with him since throughout his stay at Preobrazhenskoye or before, such as Nikita Zotov and Fyodor Romodanovsky; others were older patriotic men from respected families, such as Prince Michael Cherkassky, Prince Peter Prozorovsky, and Fedor Golovin; and some others were foreigners, such as Patrick Gordon and Franz Lefort, whose company Peter enjoyed.

In addition to the vast varieties of food, games, and events at the parties the Jolly Company held, there were also substantial amounts of alcoholic beverages.

[3] The Jolly Company slowly "proceeded to more organized buffoonery and masquerades" as Peter gave many of the men titles that they addressed each other by, often for ridiculous reasons.

[4] The Jolly Company eventually formed a group known as The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters, which had a "Prince-Pope", a college of cardinals, bishops, archimandrites, priests and deacons.

[8] Instead, Peter and the Synod celebrated their own version of the Russian folk custom of sviatki, with partying, drinking, and even eroticism.