Io Saturnalia!
(Greeting at the Roman festival of Saturnalia)

Hail the Rites of Saturn!

(pron = yoh sah-toor-NAH-lee-ah)

Comment: The Romans celebrated one of their most enduring festivals from
December 17-25. It was called ?Saturnalia?. Listen to a bare bones
description of the festival, and see if much of it does not sound familiar.

You have the dates which have as their center point the Winter Solstice. Romans
decorated with ever greens. They gathered in the evenings around fires, sharing
food and drink. Everyone wore the red hat known as the pilleus. It was red,
conical, and in some drawings, flopped over to one side or another. It was the
hat of freedom, given to slaves who were freed in regular life, but becomes the
symbol of universal freedom shared by all during the festival of Saturnalia.
Roles were reversed, and in a gesture of human kindness, masters served slaves.
One slave was elected as the Princeps Saturnalicus?the Saturnalian Emperor,
and become the king of the party. Small gifts were given, usually a candle to
symbolize the light that was being re-kindled in the darkness after the
Solstice. Children were given small statues called sigillaria that represented
family members.

The festival centered on three divine beings who are among some of the oldest
deities honored in Italy: Saturnus, the father of the sky who looked favorably
on the land. He was often portrayed as an old man with long white hair and
beard. Ops was the goddess of the fertile fields; and Consus was the god of the
grain-bin loaded with the harvest. You do hear this don?t you?father,
mother and child in a grain bin? The three celebrated as one? The three that
came from the two that are the one? Part of the ritual included a song
chanted: hail Sun Unconquered, born for us this day.

Saturnalia was a festival of many things wrapped into these 9 days (which, by
the way, makes a Roman ?week?). It was a time of thanksgiving at the end
of harvest. It was a time of marking darkest dark and kindling new light. As
it was the end of harvest, it was also, in a sense, the beginning of new
spring. The same blessings of fertility that brought them to harvest would be
needed for the next crop. It was a celebration of family and of human kindness
symbolized in feasting and gift giving.

Long after the Christianization of Rome began, the Romans held on to this
wonderful festival. Finally, after many failed attempts to do away with
Saturnalia, the Church of Rome, sometime in the 5th century, declared the birth
of Jesus to be on December 25. Saturnalia was a most beloved festival that
tapped into deep human longing and meaning. That?s why I think we still
celebrate it, under cover of different names. And in some churches on
Christmas day, you will hear: Hail Son Unconquered, born for us this day. The
greenery will be hung, food prepared, candles lit, gifts given, and family and
human kindness celebrated. There will be a crèche somewhere with mother and
father looking on a child lying in a grain trough.

Happy Holidays?whatever you wish to call them, everyone!