It’s that time of the year again where people get curious about the winter holidays, especially with Christmas just around the corner. Many of our readers will know about Christmas’s pagan origins, and while people are fascinated, they may not know much about the actual holiday in question or how it’s celebrated even today.
What you may already know:
Saturnalia is one of the more well-known areas of the pagan origins of Christmas. It is normally mentioned in a negative context, as the tradition was also accompanied by absolute lawlessness. All social rules were reversed during Saturnalia, making all crimes that were normally illegal acceptable on the day. Which at the time was actually December seventeenth, and later from the seventeenth until the twenty-third of the month.
However, Saturnalia wasn’t all depravity and horrible acts of debauchery, as some have tried to proclaim. Although they were definitely present, as we were a more primitive species back then, many beautiful traditions have managed to stay in our modern-day culture from this time period and holiday.
What did Saturnalia celebrate exactly?
Saturnalia, like most holidays during this time, was connected to the winter solstice and harvest. At the time, it was celebrated in honor of the Roman god Saturn. He represented more peaceful times and agricultural prosperity. The Romans believed he was the one to show them how to plant the seeds for a bountiful harvest and how to properly do said harvesting when the crops matured. He also represented prosperity and liberation and was thus quite popular in Roman culture.
So naturally, it would only make sense to have a day (later a week) to honor the god they felt kept their bellies full and their lives peaceful and fulfilled. This celebration was one of the biggest and most popular, even compared to other Roman holidays from the same time period.
How was Saturnalia celebrated?
In a lot of ways, Saturnalia was like completely unclenching after a year’s worth of work. All work was suspended, and like we discussed, rules were eased up significantly. While this definitely enabled questionable things, slaves were treated as equals during this time as well, and all people, no matter their station, were lavished with good food and allowed to wear colorful clothing. Truly, everyone was equal to each other, no matter their background.
The spirit of Saturnalia was one of pure pleasure-seeking, joy, and fun, for better or for worse. Everywhere you went, there were festivals, feasts, dancing, gambling, and singing that could be heard and seen. Another thing was gift-giving. The gifts could be compared to a modern-day secret Santa. You could get them from anyone and give them to anyone as well, adding to the free-spirited and fun nature of the holiday. One silly tradition was declaring someone in your household the king, and the other family members had to do what they said for the day.
As the celebration wound down, candles and lights were lit in Saturn’s honor. This was the quieter and more divinely-centered part of the holiday. They also reminded everyone that spring and the light would return soon. Surprisingly, candles and lamps were the more popular offerings. Most assume it would be human sacrifice, and while that may have been present courtesy of the time period, it certainly wasn’t common. Food was also given as an offering, which would make sense considering what Saturn represented and how many feasts and drinks are had during this particular holiday.
Overall, the celebrations were like a carnival. Fun, happy, and having the right idea or spirit, but certainly chaotic and probably no fun to clean up when the festivities ended.
Saturnalia in modern times:
Parts of Saturnalia are still in Christmas to this day and are obvious to see. It’s common to drink and have big feasts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas parties are also still common, as is gift-giving! Although a Santa-like figure wasn’t present in the Roman counterpart, Saturnalia focused more on the free-spirited aspects, while Christmas is about Jesus’s birth and meant to be more chaste and pure. Churches would definitely not approve of celebrating Jesus in such a way.
Christmas also lacks the reversal of social norms, or the king for a day tradition. Unfortunately, it may have also distanced itself from everyone of all backgrounds being equal, which Saturnalia based a lot of its celebration on, as many still feel isolated even during the holidays.
How can I incorporate Saturnalia into my modern life?
As stated above, a lot of it is already present. For my readers looking to spice things up, of course, don’t do anything illegal. You can perhaps get a bit more fun and crazy than you otherwise would, though. Go try that food or drink you never had. Pull that mischievous little prank. If you see someone new, try to talk to them, especially if they seem lonely and left out. In times like these, we need to remember not to take life too seriously. Saturnalia may have taken this to an extreme with public nudity and drinking so much you wouldn’t remember your own name, but we don’t have to do the same. There are ways to have fun and be wild without hurting anyone or endangering ourselves.
The other way is to remember that no matter where we come from, how we identify, or what our current economic status is, we’re all humans. Come together with others as much as you can, especially those who would otherwise not be included or don’t have anyone. The fact that all of us are humans at the end of the day and share the same planet seemed very important to the Romans during this festival. It should be important to us as well. So have fun, be safe, and maybe light a candle. It doesn’t have to be for Saturn if you don’t want that; perhaps the light in your window will help guide a soul through the dark that needs it the most right now.