The toga, the mark of male citizens, was never worn, but colorful party clothes. Likewise all restrictions on gambling were suspended, schools were closed, and people gave one another inexpensive presents, such as knives or dice. In ordinary time, women and slaves were forbidden wine, but this rule was relaxed for the holiday. The festival of Saturnalia was observed by people first visiting the Temple of Saturn, where, after the usual round of bloody animal sacrifices, couches were set up outside the temple where banqueting and drinking were allowed. His wife, Ops, kept one of his children, Jupiter, from him, and he was raised to adulthood in secret and then deposed and castrated his father as well. But hearing a prophecy that one of his children would one day depose him, he devoured them at birth. These bore Saturn and his wife Ops and a number of humanlike gods, but also the monstrous Cyclops, whom Caelus imprisoned in horror.Īt his mother’s instigation, Saturn deposed his father by castrating him and took command of the universe. According to the Romans, Saturn had been the chief of the gods, the child of the earth, Terra, and Caelus, the sky god. Those familiar with Greek mythology and the tales of Zeus and the Olympian gods will see elements similar in Saturn’s story, but the Romans had their own twist on the myth.Īccording to Roman mythology, Saturn was the god of time and agriculture. Saturn was the traditional father of Jupiter, or as he was known in Greek, Zeus. 23, and obviously at the end of the year it was a time of revelry and not infrequent misbehavior in honor of the god. Saturnalia was the festival of the ancient Romans, who named the day after the god Saturn. Well, it is that holiday time of year, when we each in our own way think of holidays and holy days from our youth and the culture of our beloved ancestors.Īnd so it is in the spirit of celebrating traditional religious values that we call to mind this week the holy days which begin today, the pagan Roman festival of Saturnalia.
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