![]() ![]() Saturnalia itself, rather inconveniently for this claim, occurred on 17 December (not the 25th) and ended on the 23rd, while Christmas occurs on 25 December and ends on 6 January. I will try to set the record briefly straight in this article, but I think we need to think more deeply about why these claims don’t go away, why apparently well-educated people make them, and just why so few people understand the real story of the relationship between Christianity and pagan Rome.įirst off, the myth: Christmas is a midwinter festival invented by a fourth century Pope to supplant the rowdy pagan festivities of (variously) Saturnalia, or that of Sol Invictus. One of the less joyous of these new additions is the near-liturgical round of articles, blogs and social media posts, many of them in serious newspapers and by respectable journalists and academics, repeating the same series of dubious claims about how Christmas is nothing but a sort of less than jolly deception, a feast stolen from some ancient, and more enjoyable pagan winter rite, by cunning Christians.įighting this disinformation can feel like a never-ending struggle for religious journalists, and it can feel pointless to debunk the same claims every Christmas. Christmas, he blithely suggested, “was a pagan holiday called Saturnalia appropriated by Christians”.Īs we know, Christmas has accumulated many modern secular customs over the years, from the turning on of town lights to the Doctor Who Christmas special. ![]() It was the debate's framing by the programme’s host Michael Buerk. But for once it wasn’t the sometimes tepid debate that annoyed me. This festival was more specifically religious than the general merriment of Saturnalia, and it is noted that Constantine, the first Christian emperor, was brought up in the cult of the Sun, so it is possible that the date of Christmas was designed to replace this festival specifically rather than the more ambiguous dates of Saturnalia.A recent episode of BBC Radio Four’s The Moral Maze was irritating as ever. The date of December 25th specifically likely comes from the Roman festival of dies natalis solis invicti (‘day of the birth of the unconquered sun’), a festival specifically celebrating the birth of the sun. Regardless, there is no evidence that the widely celebrated date of Christmas was his actual date of birth. Jesus’ actual date of birth is unknown, and scholars have estimated that he could have been born in June or perhaps around the spring equinox. The connection with mid-winter and the birth of Jesus Christ wasn’t made until the 2nd century CE, and the first known celebration of Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ is from 354 CE. The religious aspects of the festival honouring Saturn appear to have been gradually lost, instead becoming a popular festival designed to bring happiness in the bleak winter season. There is evidence that Saturnalia as a festival was celebrated for around a century after the conversion of Rome to Christianity. It is possible that this originated as a satiric response to the Roman emperors being known as princeps (‘ruler’ or ‘leader’) rather than rex (‘king’), as this tradition was only attested in the Imperial period of Roman history. Another practice that is attested is the crowning of a Saturnalicius princeps (‘Ruler of the Saturnalia’) who is seen as the master of the proceedings and his commands have to be obeyed by the guests at the feast. Gifting verses, in a similar practice to writing Christmas cards, was also common, as documented by Martial and Catullus. There was the custom of giving gifts, particularly pottery or wax figures known as sigillaria, as well as other items such as tablets, dice, toys, candles and many more. Gambling was also permitted and even encouraged for slaves and masters alike as the feasting and merriment got underway. ![]() Some of the key components to celebrating Saturnalia were the reversal of roles: dress codes were relaxed as Romans donned colourful dinner wear instead of a toga and slaves and masters ate together perhaps the masters even served food to the slaves as Saturnalia practices varied over time. ![]()
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