Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn. It was held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 25 December. Saturn was an agricultural deity who was said to have reigned over the world in the Golden Age. It may have influenced some of the customs associated with later celebrations in western Europe.
About Saturnalia in brief
Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn. It was held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 25 December. It held theological importance for some Romans, who saw it as a restoration of the ancient Golden Age, when the world was ruled by Saturn. Saturnalia was the Roman equivalent to the earlier Greek holiday of Kronia, which was celebrated during the Attic month of Hekatombaion in late midsummer. It may have influenced some of the customs associated with later celebrations in western Europe occurring in midwinter, particularly traditions associated with Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, and Epiphany. In Roman mythology, Saturn was an agricultural deity who was said to have reigned over the world in the Golden Age. In one interpretation of the work of Macrobius, Saturnalia is a festival leading to the winter solstice, with the abundant presence of candles symbolizing the renewal of light and the coming of the new year. The popularity of Saturnalia continued into the 3rd and 4th centuries of the Roman Empire. The Roman historian Justinus credits Saturn with being a historical king of the pre-Roman inhabitants of Italy: the first inhabitants of the Aborigines were the Ab Origines, whose king, Saturnus, is said to has been a man of such extraordinary justice, that no one was a slave in his reign, or had any private property, but all things were common to all, and undivided, as one estate for the use of every one.
In Lucian’s Chronos himself he proclaims the Saturnalia as a ‘festive season, when drunken, and slaves have license to revile their lords’, when ‘the lord of Misrule’ reviles their lords, and when the lord of misrule reviles the slaves. The Greek writer Athenaeus also cites numerous other examples of similar festivals celebrated throughout the Greco-Roman world, including the Cretan festival of Hermaia in honor of Hermes and the Spartan festival of Hyacinthia. He also mentions that the custom of masters dining with their slaves was associated with the Athenian festival of Anthesteria and the Spartans’ Argive festival ofHybristica, though not directly related to the Saturnia, involved a similar reversal of roles in which women would dress as men and men would Dress as women. The poet Catullus called it ‘the best of days’, with gifts exchanged usually gag gifts or small figurines made of wax or pottery known as sigillaria. A common custom was the election of a king who would give orders to people, which were to be followed and preside over the merrymaking. Saturnalia may have its roots in the historical western European Christmas custom of electing a ‘Lord of Mis rule’ in the tradition of Epiphany, which began in the 4th century AD. It is not described from beginning to end in any single ancient source.
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This page is based on the article Saturnalia published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
