Saturnalia

Origins and history

Romans told of Saturn as a god of farming who had once ruled the world in a Golden Age. In that age, they said, the earth gave food without human labour and nobody was a slave. The merrymaking of his feast was meant to bring back something of that lost time. The Roman holiday grew out of Kronia, an older Greek festival kept in midsummer, in the month Hekatombaion, and lasting a single day. Greek communities inside the Roman Empire went on keeping it under that same old name. After Rome's heavy defeat by Carthage in 217 BC, the Sibylline Books were consulted and Greek-style rites were added to the Roman ones.

The public rites

The state side of the feast belonged to Saturn's temple. His statue there had its feet bound with wool for most of the year, and the binding was taken off for the holiday as a mark of release. The sacrifice was offered in Greek fashion, by a priest whose head was bare, where Roman priests normally covered theirs. Next came a lectisternium, a Greek ritual in which the god's image was laid on a couch as though he were a guest at the meal, and then a public banquet. All work stopped. Schools closed, courts sat empty, and war could not be declared.

A world turned over

The usual order was suspended for as long as the festival lasted. Slaves were given the sort of meal their owners normally ate. Ancient writers disagree about the details: some say owner and slave ate side by side, others that the slaves ate first, or that the owners did the serving. Slaves could answer back without fear of punishment. A mock ruler, the King of the Saturnalia, was elected, and his orders were carried out while he presided over the merrymaking. Dice and gambling, frowned on at other times, were allowed. The poet Horace called the season December liberty.

Gifts and dress

Presents passed between households and friends, usually joke gifts, or small figures of wax or pottery known as sigillaria. The toga, the daytime dress of a male citizen, gave way to the Greek synthesis, bright dinner clothing thought too loud for ordinary daytime wear. Citizens, who normally went out bare-headed, put on the pilleus, the conical felt cap worn by freed slaves. Slaves who were not usually allowed to wear it wore it too, so that for a day nobody could be told apart. Gifts intended for women are mentioned in the sources, which suggests that women took part.

Light and later echoes

For some Romans the holiday restored the Golden Age, if only for a few days. The Neoplatonist Porphyry read its liberty as a picture of souls set free. Macrobius described a festival of light leading up to the winter solstice, with many candles standing for the search for knowledge and truth. In the later empire the return of the light and the start of the new year were marked on 25 December as the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. When Rome became a Christian empire, several of these winter customs were reworked into, or at least shaped, the seasonal celebrations that came later, among them Epiphany, Christmas and the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

How Saturnalia is kept

Public rites came first: a sacrifice offered in Greek style, then a banquet arranged by the senate, with the shout of 'io Saturnalia'. Work stopped, schools and courts closed, and no war could be declared. On 18 and 19 December families turned to their own observances at home, bathing early and, where they could afford it, sacrificing a suckling pig. Presents, jokes and gambling followed. A mock king, the King of the Saturnalia, was elected and led the merrymaking for the rest of the festival.

When and where

The festival began on 17 December in the Julian calendar. It was first extended to 19 December, and by the first century BC it ran to 23 December, seven days in all. Later Roman writers tied its candles and light to the approach of the winter solstice and the turn of the year.

Saturnalia belonged to Rome, where the temple of Saturn stood and the state rites were held. From there it travelled with Roman life around the empire. Greek communities within the empire kept the same festival under its older name, Kronia. The sources name no other single home for it.

What Saturnalia means

The feast stood for a return of the Golden Age, the time Romans believed Saturn ruled and the earth gave freely. That memory explained the freedoms of the season: the serving of slaves, the mock king, the gambling, the plain felt cap worn by everyone. For Porphyry the liberty of those days pointed to something larger, the freeing of souls. Candles and lights carried a wish for knowledge and for the returning sun.

Questions people ask about Saturnalia

See also

ChristmasA festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared mealsChristmas treeA decorated evergreen or artificial tree placed indoors to mark the Christmas season.Christmas carolFestive songs and hymns sung during the Christmas season and door to doorApril Fools' DayAn annual day of lighthearted pranks, hoaxes and teasing kept on the first of April

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle
• Saturnalia: The Jolliest of Roman FestivalsWorld History Encyclopedia, Article
• Chester: The city which still celebrates SaturnaliaBBC, Article
• Saturnalia: The Jolliest of Roman FestivalsWorld History Encyclopedia, Article
• Chester: The city which still celebrates SaturnaliaBBC, Article

• Saturnalia on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.