Jason Mankey
While it’s true that the ancient Norse celebrated a holiday called Yule, the ancient celebrations that have had the biggest impact on the modern celebration of the Winter Solstice come from the old Roman Empire. The customs and traditions associated with the holidays of both Saturnalia and the January Kalends have continued into the present day as a part of Pagan celebrations and as a part of Christian celebrations of Christmas. This holiday season, take the opportunity to make merry like a Roman, because you were probably going to do so anyways.
Yule: Make Merry Like a Roman
Saturnalia is far more famous than its January cousin, and for good reason. It’s most likely been celebrated since 300 BCE and might be even older than that! Saturnalia was originally a one-day holiday celebrated on December 17 but was eventually extended into a weeklong event lasting until December 23 (which, not surprisingly, includes the time of the Winter Solstice). Saturnalia was originally celebrated in honor of the Roman agricultural deity Saturn (Kronos in Greek mythology) and was primarily a time for feasting and merrymaking. Celebrations of Saturnalia continued officially in some places until the year 500 CE, and since Christmas looks an awful lot like Saturnalia, one can argue that they never really stopped.
The most important elements of a good Saturnalia celebration were eating and drinking, and doing both to the point of excess. Elaborate meals were served on all the days of the Saturnalia, and everyone, no matter their station in life, took part. At its heart, Saturnalia was a harvest festival, so most meals featured wheat bread in abundance. Ham remains a popular main course at many winter feasts, and the Romans might be the reason why. The Roman writer Martial commented in his work Epigrams that a pig “will make you a good Saturnalia” and pork sausages were a popular gift over the holiday (Manning 2002, 363). Saturnalia was also a time for tasty desserts, many made from apples and pears (which were in season) and sweetened with honey.
Drinking was a major part of Saturnalia, so much so that we even have a recipe for Saturnalia Wine dating back to the first century CE from the Roman writer Marcus Gavius Apicius. Saturnalia wine was sweet and was made by boiling wine and honey together and then adding dried fruit such as raisins, dates, or figs (so far so good right?) before adding spices that today are not generally added to wine. While the honey and wine were boiling, Romans would also add a generous amount of black pepper and often saffron and bay leaves. The result is something unexpected to the modern palate.
Drinking during the Saturnalia was such a part of the holiday that when Christmas took over after the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the booze continued to flow. Wine remained an important part of the new holiday, and as Christianity spread, other alcoholic drinks such as wassail (generally made from apple cider) and lambswool (made from frothy beer and apples) and eggnog became a part of holiday festivities. While most Witches don’t engage in heavy drinking at Yule, the Romans’ love of alcohol remains a part of the holiday season. New Year’s Eve is especially booze-soaked, as are many office holiday parties. Things really haven’t changed that much from two-thousand years ago!
One of the longest lasting holiday traditions that stems from the celebration of Saturnalia is the idea of “misrule.” Misrule has many meanings but is basically synonymous with upsetting the established social order. During Roman celebrations of Saturnalia, slave owners would wait on their slaves, and those who were generally seen as being on the bottom rung of society often found themselves in positions of power (at least for a little while). Over the centuries this tradition would evolve into customs involving “Bean Kings” (and Queens) and Lords of Misrule, which generally involved average citizens lording over both their peers and the nobility.
The Roman Empire’s richest citizens didn’t engage in Saturnalia charity simply out of the goodness of their hearts, they participated because they were expected to! Changing the status quo between rich and poor, and master and slave, acted as a social safety valve, easing tensions between the haves and the have-nots. This part of Saturnalia would spread throughout Europe and can be found in English wassailing traditions and the American custom of trick or treating at Halloween.
Misrule expressed itself in other ways too. During the Saturnalia, both men and women were encouraged to cross-dress, upsetting long-established Roman social norms. “Dressing up” would continue to be a part of the holiday season long after the end of the Roman Empire as masquerades and other similar amusements became a part of many European noble courts. Holiday mock nobility was a long-lasting tradition in many parts of Europe, but eventually started to fade away at the start of the nineteenth century.
Saturnalia continues its hold over modern-day Yule celebrations in other ways too. Due to its proximity to (and often overlap with) the Winter Solstice, it became a time to welcome back the reborn sun. In addition, most of the decorations we use today during the holidays were popular at Saturnalia. Holly and ivy were common Saturnalia decorations, and while the Romans did not take entire trees into their homes, they did decorate with pine branches and wreaths. The Romans also liked to sing bawdy carols at Saturnalia, a tradition that eventually evolved into “Christmas carols,” which are often reimagined in Witch circles as songs dedicated to Yule.
Saturnalia was also a time to exchange gifts, but the January Kalends might have been an even more popular time for the custom. The Romans celebrated the start of every month (which they called kalends or calends), but the start of the New Year was especially festive. The Saturnalia decorations stayed on doors and mantles, and people indulged in yet another day dedicated to food and drink and, most interestingly, spent the days leading up to the January Kalends shopping.
The fourth-century Roman writer Libanius (314–c. 394) once commented that at the January Kalends, “The impulse to spend seizes everyone … People are not only generous towards themselves, but also towards their fellow-men. A stream of presents pours itself out on all sides” (Forbes 2007, 28). Just like many modern Witches, the Romans loved to exchange gifts as well at the start of winter!
If your Yule celebrations as a Witch this Yuletide are riotous and joyous, then you’ll be taking a page directly from the Pagans of ancient Rome! So sing that song and drink that eggnog! The still-living traditions of Saturnalia and the January Kalends are the easiest way to connect with our Pagan past.
References
Forbes, Bruce David. Christmas: A Candid History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007.
Mankey, Jason. Llewellyn’s Little Book of Yule. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2020.
Manning, John. The Emblem. London, UK: Reaktion Books, 2002.