The author Aulus Gellius noted that, as a student, he and his friends would play trivia games. "People were permitted to gamble in public and bob for corks in ice water. On the feast day, these binds of wool wrapped around his feet were loosened – symbolising that the Romans were ‘cutting loose’ during the Saturnalia. The statue of Saturn in the temple itself spent most of the year with its feet bound in woolen strips. "A small statue of Saturn might be present at such feasts, as if Saturn himself were there. Macrobius confirms this, and says that the rowdy participants would spill out onto the street, with the participants shouting, “Io Saturnalia!” the way we might greet people with ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy New Year!’ "People would feast in their homes, but the historian Livy notes that by 217 BC there would also be a huge public feast at the oldest temple in Rome, the Temple of Saturn. "People would also wear a cap of freedom – the pilleum – which was usually worn by slaves who had been awarded their freedom, to symbolise that they were ‘free’ during the Saturnalia.
They would ‘put together’ whatever clothes they wanted. This outfit was called the ‘synthesis’, which meant ‘to be put together’. "And the aristocracy, who usually wore conservative clothes, dressed in brightly coloured fabrics such as red, purple and gold. "The ordinarily rigid and conservative social restrictions of the Romans changed – for example, masters served their slaves during a feast and adults would serve children, and slaves were allowed to gamble.ĭice players in a wall painting from Pompeii So while it was a holy day, it was also very much a festive day as well. "A character in Macrobius’s Saturnalia quotes from an unnamed priest of the god Saturn that, according to the god himself, during the Saturnalia “all things that are serious are barred”. "It was a topsy-turvy holiday of feasting, drinking, singing in the street naked, clapping hands, gambling in public and making noise. " A: It was the Romans’ mid-winter knees up! "Q: What was Saturnalia, and how was it celebrated? But how did the Romans celebrate during the festive season? English historian Dr Carey Fleiner, a senior lecturer in classical and medieval history at the University of Winchester, looks back at Saturnalia, the Roman mid-winter ‘festival of misrule’ "It is today associated with decorations, gift giving and indulgence. "How did the Romans celebrate ‘Christmas’?
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