Blog post by Sam Fryer Ward
If you step back in time to Roman Corinium in the month of December, you might just find that some things seem very familiar
December is here and Cirencester is filled with festive cheer, sparkling lights and decorations. Turn the clock back just under 2,000 years and the inhabitants of Roman Corinium might well have been preparing for their own festive December celebration – Saturnalia.
Saturnalia took place in mid-December and was held to honour the god Saturn. It was definitely a time of celebration, with parties, lots of food, lots of wine and much merriment. Does that sound familiar?
Some of the other Roman traditions of Saturnalia may also strike a chord with us at Christmas time today. The Roman family home was decorated with green foliage that was often from a fir, a tree that was sacred to the god Saturn. Torches and wax tapers were lit, much in the same way that we light advent candles or crowns today. People stopped working and gifts were exchanged, with children getting toys. Some of these gifts were accompanied by verses, perhaps the equivalent of our Christmas cards. People gathered together to sing and share stories, as we do today with our own Christmas songs and stories.
Saturnalia was also a time when the strictures of Roman society were loosened, and sometimes roles were reversed with slaves being served food by their masters. There was custom where a King of Saturnalia was elected who would give orders and preside over the merrymaking. This has echoes in the late medieval and early Tudor Christmas custom of electing a Lord of Misrule.
And we can’t forget our Christmas jumpers and sparkly Christmas party outfits. Well, the Romans also liked a bit of colourful dressing up in the dark days of December. They would lay aside their togas and put on their most colourful clothes, called synthesis. Citizens and slaves alike would don a conical felt cap called a pilleus, which is perhaps not entirely dissimilar to the red and white Santa hats we see popping up on revellers throughout December!
So, when you put up your tree, go to a Christmas party, or put on your favourite, brightly coloured Christmas jumper to exchange gifts with loved ones, perhaps take a moment to reflect that right here, all those years ago, people would be enjoying their December in much the same way.
Sam Fryer Ward
Collections Engagement Assistant
