Mary Brown, Adjunct Professor of Latin at Saint Joseph’s University, is the President of the Philadelphia Classical Society and the Executive Director of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States. So if you chance to hear an occasional “IO SATURNALIA!” exclaimed by your favorite Latin student during the week before Christmas, know that you are welcomed to commemorate the ancient Roman festival of peace, goodwill, and harmony. Students will often exchange candles as symbols of the season, and commemorate the ancient festival with special cakes and foods. The ancient Saturnalia and many of its customs survive to the present day both in Rome and in modern-day Latin classes. In fact, the poet Catullus once described the festival as “the best of days.” Nevertheless, the Saturnalia was the most popular holiday of the Roman year for centuries. Hence, by the middle of the 4th century A.D., many customs of the old Saturnalia were adapted to the celebration of Christmas. It appears, however, that by the second century A.D., Brumalia, the winter solstice celebration, replaced the Saturnalia for a time. In fact, it is thought that the exchange, permutatio, of wax candles symbolized Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun, as part of the winter solstice tradition. The ancient Romans also celebrated the solstitium, or winter solstice, at the approximate mid-way point between the Ides of December (December 13th) and the Kalends of January (January 1st), corresponding to our Winter Solstice on December 21st. The Saturnalia was an occasion for celebration, visits to friends, and the presentation of gifts, particularly cerei, wax candles, and again, sigillaria, clay dolls. After sacrifice in the Temple of Saturnus, the celebrants would enjoy a public banquet, then go out to the streets shouting the holiday greeting “IO Saturnalia!” for all to hear. Expression of celebration and jubilation that the Romans shouted in the streets constantly in the Saturnal Feasts that they celebrated now, the days before the. The Temple of Saturnus, thought by many to be the oldest Roman temple recorded by the pontiffs’ annals, had been dedicated on the Saturnalia. “These sigilla were sometimes made of clay, in which case their worth was but trifling, unless the workmanship possessed unusual merit those made of marble, Corinthian bronze, silver, or gold, were, however, frequently of considerable value.” In 1899, Emile Thomas wrote in Roman Life Under the Caesars, “These statuettes were frequently made in the likeness of some divinity, such as Hercules, Minerva, Apollo Sauroctonus, Victory, or of some celebrated mythological character, e.g. The exchange of gifts, the singing of songs, and the dedication of specific foods at meals, all characterized the festival.Īccording to Macrobius, the celebration of the Saturnalia was extended with the Sigillaria, so named for the small earthenware figurines which were sold in Roman shops and given as gifts to children.
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