Did you know that the festive greeting Io Saturnalia to the Romans was much like Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays is to us today? This video is all about the earliest predecessor to Christmas, the Roman festival of Saturnalia.
The Ancient Roman Festival of Saturnalia began as a one-day festival in honor of the Roman god Saturn, but by the late Republic, it spanned over an entire week. The Saturnalia consisted of feasting, drinking, games and general merriment and was celebrated during the Winter Solstice. The strict social order of Roman society was not only loosened, but partially reversed with the slaves given more freedoms during this time, and their masters often wore the felt hat (pilleus) of the freed slave. The Saturnalia was the jolliest of all Roman festivals, and it was customary for everyone to greet each other with a hearty 'Io Saturnalia!' The connection with Sol Invictus and the importance of the Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum will all be discussed in this video!
The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:
Did you know that the festive greeting EO Saturnalia to the Romans was much like
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays is to us today?
Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia.
My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the earliest predecessor to Christmas,
the Roman festival of Saturnalia.
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Saturnalia was a festival in ancient Rome dedicated to the agricultural god Saturn,
hence the name Saturnalia.
The festival ran for an entire week from the 17th to the 23rd of December each year
during the winter solstice.
Out of all of the festivals in the Roman calendar, and there certainly were a lot of them,
the Saturnalia was by far the most jolly and the most popular with merrymaking,
gift giving and even role reversals.
Saturn, the god who gave his name to the festival, is quite a mystery in Roman religion.
The surviving depictions of Saturn show him wearing a veil and holding either a sickle
or a pruning knife, which suggests that he had some associations with agriculture and
seed growing especially.
Despite the mystery of Saturn's role in Roman mythology and religion,
the god is well remembered due to his association with Saturnalia
and his temple that still stands at the foot of Capitoline Hill in Rome,
which was built in 498 BCE.
The Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum was a focal point of Saturnalia
and within the temple there once stood a cult statue of Saturn.
At the beginning of the festival, the feet of Saturn were symbolically freed
from the woollen bonds that tied him up for the rest of the year.
And this was one way in which role reversals were manifested during the festival,
a concept we will get to later in the video.
This act of freeing Saturn's feet led to the god being associated with liberation,
a concept prominently featured in the Saturnalia festival
where the strict and somewhat stifling social conventions of Roman society
were forgotten, if only for one week.
According to Livy's claim, the festival dates back to at least the 5th century BCE,
but there seems to be evidence that it began much earlier than that.
Lucian, a Greek satirist writing in the 1st century CE during the Roman Empire,
tells of Kronos, the Greek Saturn, in his Saturnalia,
and details what he will be doing during the festival,
which he calls his seven-day reign,
the time when Zeus, the Greek Jupiter, hands over the kingship to his father.
But during the seven days I have agreed to conduct no business whatever,
not even in politics.
What I may do is drink and be drunk,
shout, play games and dice,
appoint masters of the rebels,
feast the servants,
sing stark naked,
clap and shake,
and sometimes even get pushed headfirst into cold water
with my face smeared with soot.
This certainly tells us a bit about how Saturnalia was celebrated,
which is quite helpful considering there is no one source
that details the festival in its entirety.
In the 5th century CE,
Roman writers are still talking about the Saturnalia,
with Macrobius using the festival as the setting of a dialogue
concerning nostalgia for Rome's pagan rituals,
when they were more prominent,
prior to the growing influence of Christianity.
Saturnalia began as a one-day festival,
but by the late Roman Republic,
it had expanded into a week-long celebration.
Under the reign of the first Roman emperor, Augustus,
we see Saturnalia reduced to a more modest three days,
but his successor Caligula increased it to five.
It seems though that the people ignored the official five-day decree
and still celebrated the whole seven days.
During the festivities,
gifts were given to one another
and more informal clothing or synthesis were worn,
rather than the standard togas.
The Saturnalia was famously a time for partying,
feasting,
playing games,
and merrymaking for all.
Even slaves were free during the festival to let loose,
have a gamble,
and even drink in public.
All of these jolly features of the Saturnalia
led the Roman poet Catullus
to describe the festival as the best of times.
One of the key parts of the Saturnalia festival
was the role reversal
seen in numerous traditions throughout the week.
The Saturnalia princeps,
also known as the leader of Saturnalia
or the more catchy lord of misrule,
was chosen from the lowest members of the household
and was able to spend the week
conducting light-hearted mischief.
Beyond the lord of mischief,
reversal of roles and social conventions
were also seen with the slaves and slave owners
eating together,
with the masters wearing the peleos
or felt hat of a free slave
and some even going so far
as to wait on their slaves
while the slaves were permitted to do whatever they wanted.
This particular part of the festival
may have been a way to let off some steam
after an entire year
of living within the strict social conventions
of Roman society.
On the third day of Saturnalia,
Ops, the wife of Saturn,
was celebrated with the feast of Apalia.
Ops was an earth goddess
and the Roman deity of the harvest and fertility
and although she had a festival
dedicated to her in August
at the end of the harvest season
called the Opicon Sivia,
she was also celebrated
on the third day of the Saturnalia.
The last day of the festival
was known as the Sigularia
which was named after a special market
of the same name.
On the final day of the Saturnalia,
you would head to this special market
in order to buy gifts
including candles,
jellied figs
and most importantly,
small terracotta figurines or Sigila.
Sigila could take the form of deities,
heroes like Hercules
or common and sometimes comical figures
associated with the giver or recipient.
Candles were another popular gift
because Saturnalia was associated
with the winter solstice
and the coming of light
through the birth of the sun god
Sol Invictus
on the 23rd of December,
the final day of the festival.
The candles not only represented
the light of the god
but each individual's personal quest
for truth and righteousness.
At the end of the festival,
the feet of Saturn
would once again be tied up in woollen bonds
to be freed again the next year.
With the timing of Saturnalia in late December
and some of the key characteristics
of the festival,
it isn't surprising that it had an influence
on the Christian celebration of Christmas.
The influence of Saturnalia on Christmas
was direct
and includes the decoration of the homes
with garlands and lights,
general merrymaking,
feasting and gift giving.
The colours of red and green
now associated with Christmas
were formerly associated
with Sol Invictus and Saturn.
Red symbolizing the life force
and green the spirit of renewal.
Silver and gold were associated
with ops and feminine divine energy
before all of these colours
were incorporated into Christian worship.
Saturnalia was so popular among the Romans
that the early church could not stamp it out
and so made it part of the Christian calendar
with Christ replacing Saturn
and Sol Invictus in the celebrations
and in time,
a merry Christmas greeting
taking the place of the ancient Eo Saturnalia.
Are there any festivities
celebrated at Saturnalia
that you would like to incorporate
into your own festive traditions?
Let us know in the comments below.
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