Saturnalia Days on December, 2024: can anyone tell me what Saturnalia Day is?

Saturnalia Days 2024. SPQR Blues Chapter IV: Last Days - Io, Saturnalia! Saturnalia 2006

Saturnalia was named for the roman God Saturn, they celebrated it from December 17 (some books say 15) and lasted for one week. It was a public holiday where anything goes, slave get to act as masters, debauchery, orgies etc. It was very popular.

The celebrations got translated from physical to a spiritual celebration when christianism set in and the holiday itself got replaced by the christmas season.

Check out the Wiki link below for more

Personally, I think, with Saturnalia at least, the Romans had it way better.

what did they do at saturnalia?

The ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia ran from December 17th-23rd. Saturnalia was particularly interesting culturally. During the last day of this festival, it was traditional for masters to change places with their household slaves. How this custom was observed varied widely, depending completely on the house. Since our Rome seems to be suffering from an unfortunate but severe slave shortage, we decided that it is impious to the Gods of Rome to utterly forsake this ancient and sacred tradition. To uphold our ancient contracts with Rome's immortal Gods, we reverse rank orders at this battle that we will fight during the annual Festival in honor of Saturn. This in no way implies that any free citizen of Rome is a slave!

Every Saturnalia, a muster of our active citizens listed in reverse rank order is issued to the troops. The lowest ranking members of each respective Legion act as Legion Commanders for the day, promoted temporarily to Acting Tribune unless Senatorial status entitles them to more.

Inactive Romans of even the lowest rank aren't allowed command positions as a reward for their inactivity. We tell them in the nicest way, "If you aren't on the list, you were inactive when it was assembled. So tough luck: fall in and shut up!" Auxiliaries are still auxiliaries because they are not Roman citizens!

Where there are questions as to who has the highest seniority in a given rank, we refer to citizens' enlistment dates or dates last promoted. The last Roman promoted into a given rank will have authority over the rest within that rank. For example: as of this writing, Marcus Deloricus Furius is Rome's newest Centurion. During Saturnalia our Centurions become Decurions, and currently Marcus would have seniority over the lot of them for the duration of our religious observance.

Dominus' armor is worn proudly by Rome's newest and/or lowest ranking citizen along with the title of Imperator-for-a-day. Romans given the chance to shine in the job have done really well. To date we've never lost a Saturnalia battle, despite occasional reverses throughout the day. Not only do we have superbly trained troops, but being completely free of command allows Centurions and Legion Commanders to concentrate on murder. This a welcome vacation from the responsibilities of command. As one Imperator-for-a-day said, "Dominus, I wouldn't want your job."

Note of caution to those who are naturally thinking, "Hmmmm, what a perfect time to strike! It's like attacking the British at tea time." A Roman "State of Emergency" supercedes Saturnalia. States of Emergency include wars, political crises, etc. Further, Saturnalia has no political impact whatsoever. The Senators and Magistrates, Equestrians and Patricians retain their authority and status. Our tradition is usually as much for our opponents as it is for us.

Anybody gonna celebrate Saturnalia?

Are you volunteering to be the victim sacrificed for all of the merrymaking evil committed up until the last day? Have you researched the history of Saturnalia?

"Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman."

While it sounds like fun initially, this particular festivel has a dark side. It was also used to persecute Jews in the 1400's.