Saturnalia

The Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival and holiday celebrated in honor of the god Saturn. Originally held on December 17th of the Julian calendar, the festivities were eventually expanded through December 23rd. The holiday was considered “the best of days” by Roman poet Catullus and is renowned for its continual partying, public banquets, and unique sociological practices.

Origins and Mythological Significance

In Roman mythology, Saturn (the equivalent of Greek Cronus) was an agricultural deity who purportedly ruled over the earth during a prehistoric “Golden Age.” During this mythical era, humans lived in a state of innocence, enjoying spontaneous earthly bounty without labor or social hierarchy. The Saturnalia served to temporarily evoke and recreate this lost utopian age of absolute freedom.

For Neoplatonists like Porphyry, the freedom of Saturnalia was deeply allegorical, representing the “freeing of souls into immortality.”

Traditions and Social Reversals

Saturnalia was characterized by drastic behavioral license and inverted social norms:

• Role Reversals: Slaves were granted temporary liberties, treated to equivalent banquets usually reserved for their masters, and permitted to eat alongside or even be served by them. They could freely criticize their masters without fear of punishment.
• Dress Code: The traditional citizen toga was replaced with the synthesis (informal, colorful Greek dinner clothes), and all attendees wore the pilleus (the conical felt cap of freedmen), obliterating class distinctions visually.
• King of the Saturnalia: The Saturnalicius princeps was appointed by lot to serve as a chaotic master of ceremonies, issuing absurd or capricious commands that guests were bound to follow—echoing the medieval “Lord of Misrule.”
• Gambling & Gifts: Normally prohibited practices like gambling were freely permitted. There was a prominent tradition of exchanging small gifts like sigillaria (pottery or wax figurines) or gag gifts.

Legacy and Influence

The Saturnalia had a profound influence on later Western European customs. As the Roman Empire Christianized, Saturnalian traditions surrounding the winter solstice heavily informed the practices of Christmas, Epiphany, and the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Elements like feasting, gambling, the Lord of Misrule, and exchanging gifts all have roots leading directly back to the “December liberty” of the Saturnalian celebrations.