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Saturnalia
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Saturnalia
Saturnalia is the feast at which the Romans commemorated the dedication of
the temple of the god Saturn, which took place on 17 December. Over the
years, it expanded to a whole week, up to 23 December.
Origins
The Saturnalia was a large and important public festival in Rome. It
involved the conventional sacrifices, a couch (lectisternium) set out in
front of the temple of Saturn and the untying of the ropes that bound the
statue of Saturn during the rest of the year. Besides the public rites there
were a series of holidays and customs celebrated privately. The celebrations
included a school holiday, the making and giving of small presents
(saturnalia et sigillaricia) and a special market (sigillaria). Gambling was
allowed for all, even slaves; however, although it was officially condoned
only during this period, one should not assume that it was rare or much
remarked upon during the rest of the year. It was a time to eat, drink, and
be merry. The toga was not worn, but rather the synthesis, i.e. colorful,
informal "dinner clothes"; and the pileus (freedman's hat) was worn by
everyone. Slaves were exempt from punishment, and treated their masters with
disrespect. The slaves celebrated a banquet: before, with, or served by the
masters. A Saturnalicius princeps was elected master of ceremonies for the
proceedings. Saturnalia became one of the most popular Roman festivals which
led to more tomfoolery, marked chiefly by having masters and slaves
ostensibly switch places. The banquet, for example, would often be prepared
by the slaves, and they would prepare their masters' dinner as well. It was
license within careful boundaries; it reversed the social order without
subverting it.
The customary greeting for the occasion is a "io, Saturnalia!" — io
(pronounced "yo") being a Latin interjection related to "ho" (as in "Ho,
praise to Saturn").
Saturnalia in Literature
Seneca the Younger wrote about Rome during Saturnalia around AD 50:
It is now the month of December, when the greatest part of the city is in a
bustle. Loose reins are given to public dissipation; everywhere you may hear
the sound of great preparations, as if there were some real difference
between the days devoted to Saturn and those for transacting
business....Were you here, I would willingly confer with you as to the plan
of our conduct; whether we should eve in our usual way, or, to avoid
singularity, both take a better supper and throw off the toga.
Horace in his Satire II.7 (published circa 30 BC) uses a setting of the
saturnalia for a frank exchange between a slave and his master in which the
slave criticizes his master for being himself enslaved to his passions.
Martial Epigrams Book 14 (circa AD 84 or 85) is a series of poems each based
on likely saturnalia gifts, some expensive, some very cheap. For example:
writing tablets, dice, knuckle bones, moneyboxes, combs, toothpicks, a hat,
a hunting knife, an axe, various lamps, balls, perfumes, pipes, a pig, a
sausage, a parrot, tables, cups, spoons, items of clothing, statues, masks,
books, and pets. Pliny in Epistles 2.17.24 (early second century AD)
describes a secluded suite of rooms in his Laurentine villa which he uses as
a retreat:
...especially during the saturnalia when the rest of the house is noisy with
the licence of the holiday and festive cries. This way I don't hamper the
games of my people and they don't hinder my work/studies.
Macrobius in Saturnalia I.24.23-23 wrote:
Meanwhile the head of the slave household, whose responsibility it was to
offer sacrifice to the Penates, to manage the provisions and to direct the
activities of the domestic servants, came to tell his master that the
household had feasted according to the annual ritual custom. For at this
festival, in houses that keep to proper religious usage, they first of all
honor the slaves with a dinner prepared as if for the master; and only
afterwards is the table set again for the head of the household. So, then,
the chief slave came in to announce the time of dinner and to summon the
masters to the table.
The Saturnalia was originally celebrated in Ancient Rome for only a day, but
it was so popular it soon it lasted a week, despite Augustus' efforts to
reduce it to three days, and Caligula's, to five. Like Christmas, this
important holy day (feriae publicae) was for more than fun and games.
Saturnalia was a time to honor the god of sowing, Saturn. But again, like
Christmas, it was also a festival day (dies festus) on which a public
banquet was prepared. An effigy of the god was probably one of the guests.
The poet Catullus describes Saturnalia as the best of days. It was a time of
celebration, visits to friends, and gift-giving, particularly of wax candles
(cerei), and earthenware figurines (sigillaria). The best part of the
Saturnalia (for slaves) was the temporary reversal of roles. Masters served
meals to their slaves who were permitted the unaccustomed luxuries of
leisure and gambling. Clothing was relaxed and included the peaked woollen
cap that symbolized the freed slave. A member of the familia (family plus
slaves) was appointed Saturnalicius princeps, roughly, Lord of Misrule.
Saturnalia's relation to Christmas
There is a theory that Christians in the fourth century assigned December 25
(the Winter Solstice on the Julian calendar) as Christ's birthday (and thus
Christmas) because pagans already observed this day as a holiday. This
theory is much disputed, as the dates of Saturnalia are not coincident with
Christmas. A more refined argument is that Christmas was set on the feast of
Sol Invictus, which was on December 25, and which had supplanted Saturnalia.
However, others claim that early Christians independently came up with the
date of December 25 based on a Jewish tradition of the "integral age" of the
Jewish prophets (the idea that the prophets of Israel died on the same dates
as their birth or conception), and a miscalculation of the date of Jesus'
death. [1] A theory has been advanced that the establishment of the feast of
Sol Invictus on December 25 was an attempt by Aurelian to co-opt the day
already celebrated by Christians for a pagan festival.[2]
Bibliography
Excluding the section on Christmas, and by Georges Bataille, a good deal of
this article (most of the origins section, except for the last two
sentences, and the literature section, except for the quote by Seneca) was
taken from a March 2005 handout from the course "Roman Leisure" by Professor
Woolf of the University of St Andrews, who listed these sources: Balsdon,
"Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome" p 124-5. Beard, M. North, J. and Price,
S. "Religions of Rome. Vol II A Source Book, numbers 5.3 and 7.3. Dupont
1992 p 205-7. And the Oxford Classical Dictionary sv. Saturnalia.
Notes
1. ^ Martindale, Cyril (1908). "Christmas". Catholic Encyclopedia III.
Retrieved on 4 January 2007.
2. ^ Tighe, William (December 2003). Calculating Christmas. Touchstone.
Retrieved on 4 January 2007.
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