What is Saturnalia?

Question

You can give me a better description than the Wikipedia, I am sure.

Answer 1

It is a celebration of the return of the sun. You should celebrate it outside, but if it is too cold where you live you can bring a tree inside.

Welcome to the Saturnalia!
The Circle of the Year is cut in fourths,
and in the ancient lands of Greece and Rome
the darkening time from autumn equinox
to winter solstice was the time to plow
and plant the ground, to store away the seeds.
When this was done the people rested through
the winter months, until the Sun returned.
Three ancient Gods are honored at this time:
Saturnus, Ops and Cônsus are Their names.
Now listen to the Myth of Saturn's reign:
Before the mighty Gods that rule the world
from high Olympus' snowy peak were born,
Saturnus was the king of all the Gods
and Ops, His sister, was His wife and queen.
But when the time had come to yield His throne
in favor of a younger God, His son,
then Father Saturn would not step aside.
A fight ensued between the old and new,
Till Jove had thrown Saturnus from the sky.
He tumbled down to Earth, and with His wife
He made a ship and sailed to this, our land.
He taught the people many useful arts,
to save the seeds and sow them in the ground,
so we need never have to search for food.
He showed us how to breed our animals
so we might always have their meat and fur,
so they would help to plow the fertile Earth.
Saturnus first taught folk to strike bright coins
from shining silver, glittering gold and bronze.
He showed how money might be put away,
and saved, and put to use another day.
In these and other ways Saturnus made
our lives much easier and free.
His happy reign was called the Golden Age,
when there was food enough for everyone,
and people shared the bounty that they had,
and no one ever stole or fought or lied.
But when the end had come to Saturn's reign,
He wisely chose to set aside His crown.
He sailed away beyond the Northern Wind,
to Hyperborea, where He now sleeps,
upon a hidden island at the Pole,
where He awaits another Golden Age.
But till that happy time is come again,
in this, the coldest season of the year,
we go in thought to Saturn's snowy realm
to wake from sleep the ancient kindly king,
and ask Him once again to walk with us,
and let us live for this short time with Him,
enjoying blessings of His Golden Age.
I wish you, "Bona Saturnalia!"

Answer 2

I got my BA in Classics (Greco-Roman studies). For the benefit of others reading this answer, the Saturnalia was an ancient Roman holiday celebrated on Dec. 25th in honor of the God Saturn.

The Wikipedia article actually looks pretty good to me. One tradition that stands out to Classicists (which the Wikipedia mentioned but didn't really emphasize) is role-reversal. Masters had to serve their slaves for a day. It was also a time of feasting and celebrating.

One of the answers you received (the other long one that had sort of this poem) seems okay, but I suspect the guy is conflating a few things. From everything I understand, the Christmas tradition of bring a tree into the home is German, not Roman. Also, one answerer described the Saturnalia celebration as "debauched". That's a judgemental term. It implies that there's something wrong with it. They had a big party, basically, and considered that party to be sacred. From their point of view, it was sacred as opposed to profane.

As a Neopagan, let me also state some personal feelings I have about the Saturnalia. First, as an ethical person make the world a better place and avoid harm to others (and just being a modern person), I obviously totally condemn slavery. Moreover, I condemn any form of cruelty in making offerrings to the Gods/God, since I think it profanes, rather than honors, Deity. (Though I'll note that most of what people today think of as animal sacrifices in ancient times were actually nothing more than the ritual slaughter of the animal and the cooking and eating of its meat - they didn't have grocery stores back then, so if they wanted to eat meat, they had to kill livestock - they actually took better care of their livestock than we do now BECAUSE they offered portions of the animal to the Gods and believed that the Gods would be offended if the animal was sickly. Our meat would probably be a lot better if slaughter houses were worried about offending the Gods.)

That being said, the point to me is that the Saturnalia was about role reversal and turning the world on its head. It may seem at first to many reading this that that's a bad thing to do. However, I think it's important to turn the world on its head once in awhile. We'll drive ourselves and our world crazy if we do it all the time. But, if we try to maintain our world and our society according to strict rules every day of the year, something is bound to go wrong and when it does, boom, everything falls apart.

Turning everything upside down once a year mitigates that. It makes us be able to deal with normal society for the rest of the year. For example, what would it be like if children could order their parents around for a day? It would be a safety valve. The next day, they'd have to go back to just being normal kids again and if they ever misbehaved, the parents could remind them of that day. "You had your chance to be in charge and I did what YOU told me, but now I'm in charge." It would actually reinforce a necessary social hierarchy. The same would apply to subordinates being able to boss their bosses around for a day. Now, mind you, this is an idea that would need to be tested out before releasing, so to speak, into OUR society. Perhaps there would be some limits on just how far out it could get. But I think that might help explain why a holiday like this could be useful to society.

I also think merry making is important. I'll note that in most Greco-Roman rituals, everyone, rich or poor, was fed. So, ritual feasts were, far from being greedy, actually a form of charity. As long as we're not hurting others and we're not being greedy, I think that the Divine (in whatever form It has) wants us to be happy in this life. Celebrating brings people together, which builds community. Also, winter is the dark time of the year (at least in the northern hemisphere) and north of the tropics, it gets cold and the weather gets bad. This causes seasonal depression for a lot of people. So, feasting and merriment helps lift out spirits and get us out of our seasonal depression, regardless of our belief about the Divine. That all sounds good to me. =D

Answer 3

Here we go 'round the tree... haha.

It's two weeks of revelry, debauchery and gift-giving as it was practised by the pagan Romans then.

Have a Sensational Saturnalia then! LOL.

Peace be with you.

Answer 4

The REAL reason for the season.

Answer 5

Do you mean Santaria?