Christmas Gems

Saturnalia

Liberation was a key theme of Saturnalia. Schools and law courts were closed, and any criminal offences committed during the celebrations were not prosecuted. Families and friends gave each other presents – indeed, some of the poet Martial’s epigrams seem to be rhyming gift tags for Saturnalia presents. Families also feasted together, and brought greenery into their houses to represent nature enduring in the depths of winter. Men left off their formal togas in favour of the pilleus, a hat usually worn by freed slaves.

It was Rome’s huge slave population that got to have the most fun over Saturnalia. They could gamble, drink, talk back to their masters and were even served a meal as if they were free citizens. The Roman poet Horace writes a very amusing satire based on this custom, in which his slave Davos takes advantage of the time of year to tell him exactly what’s wrong with his life! Often, one slave would be elected ‘Lord of Misrule’, and would be treated like a king while he lead the festivities. This relaxing of the social order acted as a pressure guage for the slaves, who knew that they could act like free men at least once a year.

Like Christmas, Saturnalia often attracted the condemnation of Rome’s ‘talking heads’, who decried the way a religious festival was debased by licentious behaviour. The infamous erotic poet Catullus called it ‘the best of days’, but other, more sober Romans disagreed. ‘The whole mob has let itself go in pleasures’, grumbled Seneca the Younger. Before you accuse him of being a killjoy, bear in mind that when people knocked on your door to sing religious songs during Saturnalia, they tended to be roaring drunk and stark naked. You’d have to be a very brave carol singer to try that one!

The lawyer and author Pliny the Younger hit upon the perfect philosophy for the Saturnalia-surfeited, which works equally well if you’ve had enough of Christmas but don’t want to bring everyone else down. He retreated to a quiet set of rooms in his villa on the Laurentine hill:

‘…especially during the Saturnalia when the rest of the house is noisy with the licence of the holiday and festive cries. This way I don’t hamper the games of my people and they don’t hinder my work.’