IO SATURNALIA(hurray its saturnalia!)
So december 17 comes to a special roman pagan holiday that inspired xmas. why i'm i celebrating(along with yule). ever since beginning my wicca/neo paganism spirituality. Now this a personal thing that i am willing to tell you orgers about. But i've come to conclusion that roman/greek gods have been calling me for years. in particular, i've the strongest connection to, Diana, Saturn/Cronus, Apollo, Bacchus/Dionysus, Hades/Pluton, Persophone,Athena,Hecate and Zeus. I'll still follow my wicca path, i guess i'll call myself an eclectic wiccan, with tendencies towards the greek/roman/celtic gods and i will also like to say that i am hard polytheist, meaning i feel that not all gods are the essences of the one god and or goddess, each myth and or gods has their own energy! but anways i digress, here's some info on saturnalia!

taken from about about.com
http://ancienthistory.abo...rnalia.htm
The poet Catullus describes Saturnalia as the best of days. It was a time of celebration, visits to friends, and gift-giving, particularly of wax candles (cerei), and earthenware figurines (sigillaria). The best part of the Saturnalia (for slaves) was the temporary reversal of roles. Masters served meals to their slaves who were permitted the unaccustomed luxuries of leisure and gambling. Clothing was relaxed and included the peaked woollen cap that symbolized the freed slave, which looks an awful lot like Santa Claus's peaked red hat . A member of the familia (family plus slaves) was appointed Saturnalicius princeps, roughly, Lord of Misrule.

Biblioteca Arcana and Nova Roma offer suggestions for turning December 17 into a celebration of Saturnalia.

Bringing trees indoors to decorate is a modern custom. Nova Roma suggests decorating outdoor trees with sun and star symbols, and using swathes of greenery over doorways, windows, and on people. But Nova Roma emphasizes that decorations are secondary to revelry, feasting, drinking, merry-making, pranks, and gift-giving of Saturnalia. If you can get your friends and neighbors in the spirit, wrangle a parade permit from your municipality so you can dance (like a Roman) in the street.

Biblioteca Arcana's suggestions are for celebrating the religious aspects of the Saturnalia and its two adjoining holidays, the Opalia for Saturn's wife, Ops, goddess of plenty, and the Consualia for Consus, "god of the storage bin." The site provides a complete ritual with an equipment list, information on preparation, location, timing, the banquet, and the conclusion.







in case, you want to celebrate saturnalia, wiki how states the following
http://www.wikihow.com/Ce...Saturnalia



Saturnus
Saturnalia is the Roman festival honoring Saturnus, who introduced agriculture and the arts of civilized life. It was the season when agricultural work was completed; a sort of joyous Thanksgiving-type holiday of relaxation and merriment. During Saturnalia, businesses, courts and schools were closed.
This is a guide to celebrating a reconstructed Saturnalia today.

1Wear the colors of the holiday. These are green and gold.

2.Decorate over doorways, windows and even stairs with greenery. Garlands or wreaths are ideal. Add golden cutouts of the sun or golden pinecones, nuts, acorns.

3.If you have living trees on your own property, hang them with sun symbols, stars, and faces of the God Janus (who watches over the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one). In Roman times, trees were not brought indoors but were decorated where they grew. It is also possible to decorate living plants in pots.

4.Make cookies in the shapes of fertility symbols, suns and moons and stars, and herd animal shapes. You can make your own cookie cutters if you're keen! Use green and/or gold food colors or sprinkles.

5.If you are of legal drinking age where you live, make some mulsum, a drink of wine and honey.

6.Greet people with the traditional cry of "Io, Saturnalia!" This is pronounced "eeyo sa-tur-NAL-ee-uh".

7.Invite your friends for a feast and a party on December 17th. Saturnalia is a joyous holiday and Romans shared it with friends and family.

8.Give small presents, including presents of food or sweets, or candles or lamps. Attach a clever note or a short witty poem to your gifts. Read the Roman poet Martial ("Xenia" and "Apophoreta") for some authentic examples from Roman times.

9.If you have a lararium, make sure it is clean. Safely light a candle there. Display and decorate a statue of Saturnus, if you have one, or a photo of a statue or painting of him.


IO SATURNALIA





[Edited 12/17/09 13:07pm]

happy saturnalia barogue...

I may have missed it in what you've posted but I just have to ask. WHY is that man eating that baby???

is he eating that baby?

matthewgrant said:

ahh! cronus(aka saturn in the roman version). Saturn/Cronus gets a vision that his children by his wife(rhea) will take over him and his domain. So in order to stop this from happening he eats his babies , which includes, Neptune(Poseidon), Hera, Hades(Pluton), etc. He manages to eat them all except for Zeus! later on when zeus is an adult he his frees brothers and sisters and they defeat cronus/saturn. i personally believe that being swallowed by saturn is being in total darkness( eternal peace, sadness,winter, etc) in order for one to progress i feel one needs to be in total darkness in order to appreciate the light..or something cryptic like that.
[Edited 12/17/09 13:09pm]

heybaby said:

Yes. but don't worry their gods, so they don't die, really they just live in his stomach for ages.

baroque said:

oh ok I getcha.

heybaby said:

yes Saturn/Chornos ate all of his children but Jupiter/Zeus

ehuffnsd said:

i love that story!