Religion 211
Saturnalia:
The Best Days of the Year
Saturn is one of the oldest gods in Roman and Greek history. He was the ruler of the Golden Age. His festival was thought of as the best of days out of the whole year. The Saturnalia was more of a social function than a religious one.It was a social release for the servants and rich both, a way a releasing tension for just one week as it was a celebration in which roles in society were switched.
Saturn is the son of the Heaven and the Earth, Uranus and Gaea. After all the elements and all other eternal things were completed, there was no reason for the Heaven and the Earth to mate again, so they had to be separated forever. Therefore, Gaea gave a sickle to Saturn so he could castrate his father. After he had completed this act, the gonads of Heaven fell to the earth and all earthy beings were created from them and Saturn began his reign.
The
time of Saturn’s reign was known as the Golden Age. It was a time of happiness
and fruitfulness. There was no slavery or crime, people did not even own
property or designate boundaries because there was no need to. When Saturn’s
rule was over he resisted giving up his power. He was afraid that his children
would overtake the throne, as he had done to his father. In order to prevent
this, Saturn ate all his of his children, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. However,
his wife Ops tricked Saturn and saved Jupiter who in turn made his father
vomit the two others forth.
As
for what happened after that, there are various stories told. Macrobius
tells three in his book The Saturnalia. The first one says that
after giving up his role as ruler of the Golden Age, Saturn became the
“Wise Old Man” in Italy. Upon arrival in Italy, the king Janus, who made
Saturn a king also, welcomed him. While in Italy, Saturn taught the people
animal husbandry, the cultivation of fruit trees, how to fertilize fields,
the use of honey, and how to cultivate and gather all the fruits of the
earth. After Saturn’s disappearance, Janus started the yearly festival,
Saturnalia, in his honor. (Macrobius 59) His second story is about a group
of men left behind in Italy by Hercules. These men called themselves Saturnians
because that was the name of the hill on which they were staying. (Macrobius
60) This version says that those men started the festival in honor of the
god from which they got their names. And the last story involves the Pelasgians
who fled their homes and were not sure about the future. They were told
to consult the oracles, which told them,
“Go ye in search of the land of the Sicels and the Aboriginies, a land, sacred to Saturn, even Cotyle, where floateth an island. Mingle with these people and then send a tenth to Phoebus and offer heads to Hades and a man to the Father.”
The Pelasgians followed the oracles and found this island, made the sacrifices and named the festival the Saturnalia. For many years they sacrificed human beings, but after more consideration they decided to substitute little masks that looked like a human face instead of a real human head and a candle to represent the human blood. ( Macrobius 60)
Saturn
is known as the god of agriculture, god of fertility, the god of seed and
sowing and the god of time. He is depicted as an old man with a sickle
or scythe, which is a sign of harvest. The cult statue has his feet bound
with wool and the statue was hollow so it could be filled with olive oil,
as symbol of his agricultural ties.
The
festival of Saturn was the Saturnalia. It was celebrated from the 17th
of December to the 23rd. The Saturnalia celebration was much
like our Christian Christmas celebration today. The sacrifice was performed
by Greek rite with the head uncovered. When everyone had gathered at the
temple the sacerdos said a prayer that the gods would bless the holy place
and keep it free from evil. (Sophistes)
The
festival began with a formal sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn.As
each person entered the temple, he took a handful of grain with him. Once
inside the temple, the people formed a circle and the priest told of how
the circle of the year is cut in fourths and the winter time was the time
to plow and store their seeds. He then told about Saturn’s Golden Age and
his force from the throne. The priest then told the people the purpose
for their festival and their trip to the temple: they are awakening Saturn
from his sleep asking him to allow them to live in his Golden Age for just
a short time and to be able to walk with Saturn once again. (Sophistes)
The
priest then filled the statue of Saturn with olive oil explaining that
this is what Saturn needs to make the earth fruitful again and to produce
food. The story of Consus, the god of storage and hiding is mentioned.
Consus watches over the olive oil and the grain that is given to Saturn
and keeps it secret. The people then began to walk around in a circle,
each time passing the sacred storage box, emptying their hands full of
grain and money. (Sophistes)
After
the more formal part of the ceremony was performed, gifts were exchanged.
Candles and small dolls were passed around, starting with the priest and
continuing to the others in a sunwise direction. The candles and dolls
were derived from the Pelasgians uses earlier. The gifts were common so
no one would feel poor, or like a servant. Children were also allowed to
participate in this ceremony. If they were present the adults gave the
small dolls to them, but the adults keep the candles. After all the candles
were lit, the same way they were passed out, the olive oil from the cult
statue is poured into a lamp which is then lit by the flame from the candle.
The priest then calls to the god asking him to awaken again and return
the Golden Age. While this chant is going on, the woolen bonds on Saturn’s
feet are being loosened so he can be free again. ( Sophistes)
The
ritual ceremony then ended and the people went back to their homes. Once
there, they changed from the formal clothes into a synthesis, a light dressing
gown, and a pilei, a soft felt cap worn by slaves that symbolized the freedom
of the season. Then there was a public banquet which Livy says was introduced
in 217 BC. There may have also been a lectisternium, which is a banquet
where the cult statue is in attendance like a guest. (Saturnalia)
The
main aspect of the Saturnalia was the role reversal that took place for
that one week. Slaves were treated as masters of the house while the masters
served the slaves. Children were also treated as adults, and like the slaves,
they were waited on, allowed to lead rituals and participate in activities
only adults could do. (Saturnalia)
Like
we celebrate Christmas here, schools were closed for children for that
week, courts were closed, most people did not have to go to work although
the essential jobs such as cooking, sanitation, and some small shops remained
in tact. Even though the festival only lasts for a week, Macrobius talks
about most people taking most of January off of work and lounging those
days. According to Lucian, Saturn thought this of his festival:
“During my week the serious is barred; no business allowed. Drinking, noise and games and dice, appointing of kings and feasting of slaves, singing naked, clapping of frenzied hands, an occasional ducking of corked faces in icy water- such are the functions over which I preside.” (Saturnalia)
Since during the Saturnalia everyone is of equal class, anyone can be named the Master of the Saturnalia. He then acted as the Lord of Misrule, ordered people what to do and being in total control of his household. No wars or fighting were allowed during these seven days representing the peace during the Golden Age. At the end of the festival, presents were exchanged between the rich and the poor, the young and the old. Most popular gifts were dolls, candies, or candles. Presents that could show someone’s class or wealth were not given since social class was wiped out for those seven days. (Saturnalia)
Although
most of the festival is described as a joyous and fun occasion, there are
a few stories of a violent part of the festival. Sir James George Frazer
talks of a dark shadow of Saturn’s reign. He says,
“… his altars are said to have been stained with the blood of human victims, for whom a more merciful age afterwards substituted effigies. Of this gloomy side of the god’s religion there is little or no trace in the descriptions which ancient writers have left us of the Saturnalia.”
In
order to imitate the Golden Age of Saturn, you also must include his tragic
downfall. Therefore, a young man is chosen to be the mock king of the festival.
There is an account in a narrative of the martyrdom of St. Dasius telling
of Roman soldiers celebrating the Saturnalia while stationed on the Danube
in the reign of Maximian and Diocletian. Frazer tells the story in The
Golden Bough:
“ Thirty days before the festival they chose by lot from amongst themselves a young and handsome man, who was then clothed in royal attire to resemble Saturn. Thus arrayed and attended by a multitude of soldiers he went about in public with fill license to indulge his passions and to taste of every pleasure, however base and shameful. But if his reign was merry, it was short and ended tragically; for when the thirty days were up and the festival of Saturn had come, he cut his own throat on the altar of the god whom he personated. In the year 303 AD the lot fell upon the Christian soldier Dasius, but he refused to play the part of the heathen god and soil his last days by debauchery. The threats and arguments of his commanding officer Bassus failed to shake his constancy, and accordingly he was beheaded…”
The
season was marked by murder. Commodus was strangled in his bath New Year’s
Eve and Caracalla planned to murder his brother during the week of the
festival. Through all of this, Statius still proclaimed:
“For
how many years shall this festival abide! Never shall age destroy so holy
a day! While the hills of Latium remain and father Tiber, while thy Rome
stands and the Capitol thou hast restored to the world, it shall continue.”
And
the festival did continue up to the Christian era when by the middle of
the fourth century AD, its rituals had become absorbed in the celebration
of Christmas. (Saturnalia)
The
Temple of Saturn is one of the oldest temples in the Forum. I found different
dates as to when the original building was constructed, but most sources
say it was built by Titus Larcius in 17 B.C. in the month of December and
enlarged in 42 BC by Plancus. In the 4th century AD the Temple
was renovated after a fire. The Temple was also called the Aerarium because
the Roman national treasure was kept there. (the Temple of Saturn) Macrobius
records that Tullus Hostilius built a shrine to Saturn and that was the
first time the Saturnaila was brought to Rome. He goes on to say that Varro
wrote in his sixth book that the temple was contracted by Lucius Tarquinus,
but dedicated by Titus Larcius. (Macrobius 63)
For
the people of Rome, the Saturnalia was more than a week of fun and exchanging
gifts. It was a time of release, a time to remember and reflect of the
days gone by when there was no war, no poverty, and no inequality. To them,
Saturn was the bringer of this joyous time. He was a god to be worshipped
for his gifts of agriculture and knowledge of the land. The days of the
Saturnalia, a time of remembrance, were the best days of the year.
Frazer,
Sir James George. The Golden Bough. 1922.
< http://www.bartleby.com/196/145.html
>. 13 Nov. 2001.
Macrobius.
The
Saturnalia. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.
“Saturnalia.”http://biblicalheritage.org/Religious/saturnalia.htm>.
21 Nov. 2001.
“Saturnalia:
Sub sole nihil novi.” The Economist 18 Dec. 1999: 55.
Sophistes,
Apollonius. Saturnalia or Brumalia. A Winter Solstice Ritual.
< http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/Saturnalia.html
>. 29 Nov. 2001.
“The
Temple of Saturn.” < http://kylemartin.ca/Forum/temple_of_saturn.html
>. 21 Nov. 2001