General rules were overthrown, and for a few days, slaves were treated as equals, being allowed to wear their master’s clothes. On the first day of Saturnalia, families, relatives and anyone belonging to the household (including freedmen and slaves), threw dice to choose the ‘ Saturnalicus Princeps’ or Lord of Misrule, who presided over the days’ events. However, not everyone agreed with this, and Pliny (the original bah humbug Scrooge), locked himself in a soundproof room so he couldn’t hear all the jollity, and was left in peace to get on with his studies. Horace describes Saturnalia as ‘December liberty’ and Catallus as ‘the happiest of times’. It also begs the question of what he was going to do with them when you consider that fact that in Roman times, radishes were traditionally much larger than they are today, though modern research has found them to be rich in raphanin, allicin and allistatin, all powerful antibiotics. We don’t know how successful this quest was but imagine trying to get radishes in the middle of winter in Northumberland. Saturnalia was probably observed wherever the Roman army settled, and it certainly was at Vindolanda where a writing tablet (number 301, found in 1988 and now in the British Museum, though not on display) was found from Severus (a slave) to Candidus (slave to Genialis) asking him to acquire radishes for Saturnalia. Other than its association with the God Saturn, its origins are obscure, but the first record of its observance was in the middle of the 5th century BC, and it was probably still practised into the 4th century AD and beyond despite the conflict with Christianity: old habits die hard! Several emperors had tried to restrict festivities to one or three days, but in the 3rd century AD, Caracalla decreed it was to be a week-long celebration. Some sources say this was eventually misappropriated by Santa Claus and his ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’. It was greeted by saying ‘Io Saturnalia’ (pronounced ‘Yo Saturnalia’). Saturnalia was celebrated from 17th to 23rd December in the Julian calendar, and it probably originated as a farmers’ festival to mark the end of the planting season, and grew more elaborate as Rome became more powerful and confident. One of the most famous, and perhaps the most popular, of the Feriae Statiuae was Saturnalia, the feast now most closely associated with Christmas. These festivals meant a break from work and the daily grind, so were an important part of life on the Roman calendar…and there were very many of them. Private festivals included family celebrations and funerals, while public festivals were split into three categories: statiuae (which included fixed festivals), conceptivae (moveable festivals), and imperativae (held to celebrate a victory for example, so were ad hoc). Roman festivals were either private ( privatae) or public ( publicae). By Pat Hirst - Museum and Volunteer Guide
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