Saturnalia

Saturnalia was a festival celebrated by

many romans on the winter solstice, marking the
end of the autumn planting season. The Roman
Calendar recognized the event as a holy day, or
holiday, and was definitely the most popular
among them. The celebration can definitely be
traced back to banquets held in 217 BCE, likely
originating from small farming communities
centuries before then. Several of Romes
emperors attempted to curtail Saturnalias
disruptive tendencies via a multitude of different
strategies with varying levels of success. A few
examples of these tactics include reducing the
number of days the festival, replacing small
community parties with state administrated
events, and even changing the date of the climax
of the festivities from the seventeenth of
December to the twenty-fifth.
Issues immediately begin to arise with the discussions of the holidays practices though,
as they included feasting, goodwill, generosity to the poor, the exchange of gifts and the
decoration of trees (Salusbury) among other things. It's plain to see striking similarities the
pagan holiday holds with a particularly prolific Christian holiday celebrated to this day. This
shouldnt come as much of a surprise though; the conversion of a Roman emperor to
Christianity spelt the death of paganism throughout the empire, along with it the replacement of
all of the holidays from the old Roman calendar. Most of the celebrations revolving around the
gods of the old Roman religion Apollos Ludi Apollinares were completely disallowed by the
state. However, given the popularity of some of these celebrations, several were adapted into
new holidays that lasted for varying lengths. Saturnalia, being such a renown event, was quickly
adapted by the romans to the Christian faith. The removal of several parts of the festival that
were remnants of pagan worship, namely the sacrifice at the temple which began the days long
event, along with the inclusion of nativity and other Christian customs ultimately coalesced into
the form of the holiday still celebrated today: Christs Mass (shortened to Christmas much later).
 Works Cited
Cartwright, Mark. Saturnalia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History
Encyclopedia Limited, 16 Dec. 2016, www.ancient.eu/Saturnalia/.
Grout, James. Saturnalia. Encyclopedia Romania, University of Chicago, 1 Apr. 2017,
penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/saturnalia.html.
Salusbury, Matt. Did the Romans Invent Christmas? History Today, History Today Ltd.,
12 Dec. 2009, www.historytoday.com/matt-salusbury/did-romans-invent-christmas.