Saturnalia

Saturnalia was a week-long celebrated in ancient .

It was often celebrated between December 17th through .

Saturnalia was celebrated in honor of the god . He was the god of and time.

Saturnalia was first celebrated as early as .

The celebration was a fun time where people ate, drank and .

People also wore special, colorful clothes called .

The festival usually began with a sacrifice of bulls in front of the Temple of Saturn. Then the feet of the statue of the Roman god, which had been tied with during the year, were on Saturnalia. This was done by the priest. It represented or freedom.

Masters would wear the HATS of their slaves. These hats were called .

On the 3rd day of Saturnalia, the Feast of took place. This was to honor , the wife of SATURN. She was also the goddess of and fertility.

Towards the end of Saturnalia, were also exchanged. or wax figures of gods, were given.

CANDLES were also a very popular gift. They represented the LIGHT of the sun god, . They also stood for people’s search for .

During the festival, people also greeted each other with the words, !

As the festival came to an end, the around the god’s feet were again TIGHTENED. This also restored the normal [between masters and slaves].

Saturnalia was a pagan festival. It was so popular that the early CHRISTIAN CHURCH could not remove it. So, it was made a part of the Christian . From then on replaced the Roman gods, as the focus of the celebrations.