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An Ancient Roman Festival
The Saturnalia was originally an ancient Roman agricultural feast held in honor of the god of seeds and sowing, Saturn. It was later celebrated in remembrance of the benevolent Golden Age of man, presided over by the Greek god Kronos, who came to be associated with the Roman deity, Saturn.
The Festival of Saturnalia was held annually in December. In the old Roman calendar, the tenth month marked the end of the Roman agricultural year. By mid-December, the harvest had been stored, the seeds for next year's crop had been planted and, the wine vinted. The time had come for the people of Rome to have a much deserved rest, joyous celebration and reverent thanksgiving. Initially, the feast of Saturn was once a one day celebration. However, the official length of the holiday changed several times gradually expanding to seven days, despite political attempts to constrain the festival.
In our Gregorian calendar, Saturnalia coincides with the Winter Solstice, a cosmic event of mystery and suspense. In the Julian calendar used by the Romans, the Winter Solstice or Brumalia occured on Dec 25th. Humans have gathered together during these black nights to give solace and comfort to one another since prehistoric times. As the world grew cold and grey, it was once feared that the sun was approaching the end of its life. Sacrifices were often made to placate the gods and to ensure that great light of the heavens would be reborn. Although it is not a solar holiday, Saturnalia echoes some of the these practices.
Many Saturnalia traditions are survived in our 21st century winter celebrations. For example, the Romans decorated their homes and communities with glowing candles, greenery swags and wreaths of holly, cypress and laurel, much as we do today. They held huge public banquets for all the people of Rome, not unlike the many charities that open their doors during our winter holiday season. The Roman also exchanged personal gifts and greetings of good will at this time. This is just a short list of the many similarities in the traditions of ancient Saturnalia and our modern Christmas and New Years customs.
The Greco/Roman Myths
The early Romans were greatly influenced by Greek culture and religion and adopted several Greek myths and deities as their own. Saturn, who was originally worshipped as an agricultural god, (his name was probably derived from the Latin word 'satus' which means 'to sow'), assumed many of the attributes of the Greek god, Kronos and became associated with myth of the Golden Age.
In the Greek myths, Kronos was one of the twelve titans. With the help of his mother, the earth goddess Gaia, Kronos attacked and castrated his despotic father, Uranus with a sickle and became the ruler of the universe. Kronos, with his sister-wife, Rhea (associated in Roman mythology with the goddess Ops) is said to have sired six of the twelve gods and goddesses of Olympus. However, Kronos was jealous of his children, and, fearing that they would seek to overthrow him as he had done to his father, swallowed his first five children. Rhea tricked Kronos by substituting a stone for the baby Zeus (Roman god Jupiter) and secreted the infant off to Crete. When he reached adulthood, Zeus (Jupiter) forced Kronos to regurgitate his siblings and together with the aid of Hacatonchires and the Cyclopses, dethroned Saturn and imprisoned him and the other Titans in the underworld.
According to Roman mythology, after Saturn was dethroned by Jupiter (Zeus), the fallen Titan fled to Rome at the invitation of the god Janus. There, it is fabled, Saturn established a great society void of crime, poverty, war, injustice and servitude over which he ruled with a stern and, often, capricious hand. The Romans nostalgized that legendary state as the Golden Age of Latium.
Recalling An Ancient Age
Many of the rites of the Saturnalia were intended to restore that long lost utopia--if only for a short time each year. The poet Catullus describes Saturnalia as the 'best of days'. And it was a merry occasion of feasting, frolicking, and freedom for the Roman people. During the Saturnalia celebration, the normal constraints of society were relaxed and all the people of Rome were allowed to indulge in otherwise restricted activities such as gambling and drinking. Everyone dressed casually at the festival, blurring the lines of class division. Most businesses and shops were closed, as were the judicial courts of Rome. It was a particularly pleasant holiday for the slaves, who were traditionally freed from their regular duties throughout the festivities.
All of Rome echoed cheerful cries of , "Io Saturnalia! Io bona Saturnalia!" ( Hurrah [for] Saturnalia! Hurrah, good Saturnalia!) as drunken crowds paraded through the streets. Outrageous public spectacles were traditionally held in the coliseums and arenas during the Saturnalia, delighting the mischievous celebrants.
It was also an occasion to visit friends and family and to offer presents to one another. The traditional gifts of the season included fruits and nuts, tapered candles of beeswax, and small figurines made of dough or terra-cotta. These tokens were usually exchanged on "Sigallaria", the last day of the Saturnalia festival.
One Saturnalia custom happily anticipated by the slaves was a feast given them at which they were served by their masters to commemorate that, under the reign Saturn, all men were equals. On the day of this feast, the master of the house would present the slaves with a small conical hat made of wool (later made of paper) for them to wear as a symbol of their freedom and equality.
"Rich or poor, whoever he is, he boasts that he shares the table of the emperor."
--Statius, writing of the Feast of Saturn (1st century AD).
Another established Saturnalia tradition in Roman communities was to cast lots among the people to chose a Saturnalicius Princeps (King of Saturnalia or Lord of Misrule) as a representative of the god Saturn to rule over the festival. Each family also chose a mock king preside over the household during the holiday. The Saturnalicius Princeps' orders were to be obeyed, no matter how bizarre. Fortunately, his primary duty was to see that everyone had riotous fun, although, from time to time, a mock king would take advantage of the situation to belittle his superiors. One such incident occurred in 54 AD, when the infamous Nero (before his ascension to the throne) was chosen by lot to be the Saturnalicius Princeps. As recounted by a fellow webmaster (see Festivals ) "Nero used the opportunity to humiliate Claudius' son Britannicus, apparently a poor vocalist, by forcing him to sing."
Religious Rites of Saturnalia
The Saturnalia was a rowdy secular affair of the common folk, but it was also designated as a sacred day upon which solemn religious rites were performed by the priests of Rome. It was considered an offense to the god Saturn to punish criminals or engage in battles during the holiday, and such activities were forbidden.
Each year, all the people gathered together, slave and senator to watch the opening ceremonies. The ritual began with the rededication of Temple of Saturn to the ancient god. Housed within the temple, the hollow wooden statue of Saturn was refilled with fresh olive oil, a rite retained as a reminder of his agricultural functions. Saturn's ankles, which were bound with woolen strips throughout the year to insure his subordinance to Jupiter, were ceremoniously loosened at this time symbolizing the god's free reign during the Saturnalia.
A sacrifice was then made to Saturn according to ancient Greek custom, with the head uncovered. Humans were once sacrificed to the god, but as society evolved, Saturn became content with animals and effigies. The small terra-cotta figurines, called 'sigalla' , which were exchanged by the Romans at Saturnalia, may have been a remnant of these human sacrificial rites. Typically, each family offered a goat or pig as a sacrifice to the god, with one share of the meat having been left on the altar for Saturn, one share reserved for the priests of the temple, and the remainder returned to the household. After the religious rites had been performed, the crowd was dismissed with the proclamation: "Io, Saturnalia!", trumpeting in the beginning of the joyous festivities. A great public banquet held in honor of the god with an image of Saturn in prominent attendance. The following days and nights were filled with wild parties, impromptu parades and spectacles of daring and skill.
As the festivities drew to a close, the people again assembled to watch the priests solemnly bind the Saturn's ankles until the next Saturnalia. The sober ceremony signaled the return to the accustomed order of Roman society. As the masses disbursed from the temple to return to their mundane lives, they knew that the tax collectors would soon appear to gather their due and that all other accounts of the past year would have to settled; The Saturnalia had ended.
Seneca declared that "all Rome went mad" during the Saturnalia. Indeed, the lawless revelry seemed to encourage malicious pranks and lascivious stunts from the masses. I have, perhaps, a more romantic view of this ancient bacchanal. Incidents of debauchery aside, the Saturnalia was, by and large, a joyous recreation of an era of blessed peace, economic justice and social equality. War was banned; executions were suspended; slaves were liberated; and all persons were considered equal for the duration of holiday. That was not entirely 'mad' behavior, in my opinion.
I echo the Latin author Publius Papinius Statius' augury of Saturnalia:
"Time shall not fade that sacred day, so long as the hills of Latium stand, so long, father Tiber, as your city of Rome shall stand and the Capitol remain on earth."
Io Bona Saturnalia!
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