In 1659 the New England puritans banned Christmas completely. Washington, crossing the Delaware on Christmas eve, knew that he could count on finding the Hessians drunk. The "wassail" parties that went from house to house, demanding that their bowls be refilled with wine, and sometimes throwing rocks at those who failed to comply, were dreaded by householders. But in fact - and for a long time- Christmas itself wasn't especially Christmas-like. It was drunken and rowdy. Very much like Saturnalia. Such riotous goings-on might not sound especially Christmas-like.
"That's a big deal in Rome, because they were so class conscious," Messner said. One of the most famous aspects of Saturnalia was its topsy-turvydom. A surviving fourth century Roman calendar illustrates the month of December with images of a mask, and a pair of dice. The holiday has become synonymous, over the centuries, with the excess for which the ancient Romans are famous - especially in Hollywood movies. "Saturnalia" has entered the English dictionary, as meaning "an occasion of wild revelry." (Oxford Languages). "Saturnalia, with lots of fanfare, celebrated the bounty and looked forward to a new year filled with plenty," he said. "Saturn was - among other things - the god of bounty and agriculture," said Floyd Moreland, originally from Passaic, director emeritus of City University of New York's Greek/Latin Institute. There were other ways, however, in which Saturnalia resembled Christmas less than Mardi Gras, or even April Fools' Day. "The poet Catullus complains that someone gave him an inferior book of verse," McDonough said. Ring a bell? The Romans even suffered from post-holiday letdown. In one account from the first century B.C., someone is heard grousing about his Saturnalia present. Some scholars have suggested that greenery was brought into the home: Saturnalia was a winter solstice festival. There would have been extra candles and lamps in the house, to provide light in a season of darkness. "Little dolls, things like that." People greeted each other with special holiday phrases. " 'Io Saturnalia!' is Greek," McDonough said. "It was usually minor gifts, little gifts," McDonough said. 17 to 23 would have been typical, though there were variations over time - that involved feasting, merry-making, and gift-giving. What's definitely true is that Saturnalia was a December festival - Dec. "This idea that the Saturnalia was somehow baptized as a Christian festival just doesn't add up with the way the early church functioned." Holiday time "I don't buy the theory, largely because the early church was really strident about not being pagan, and not being accommodating of pagan ways," Messner said. This scenario seems dubious to Roman historian Brian Messner, who teaches at Lincoln Christian University in Illinois. In the fourth century - so the story goes - the early church fathers deliberately re-branded a popular pagan holiday as a Christian festival, in order to make their religion more attractive to converts. No more gifts?: Stop buying holiday gifts, says activist and 'Reverend' of The Church of Stop ShoppingĬhristmas lights: The most spectacular holiday houses in North Jersey Holidays: Celebrate 'It's a Wonderful Life' and other classics with anniversaries this Christmas Historians argue about the exact relation between Saturnalia and Christmas - the holiday that, by many accounts, grew out of it. "This was a festive season for the Romans, that was continued by the Christians in a sense," said historian Scott McDonough, who teaches ancient history courses at William Paterson University in Wayne.
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