The Festive Season

We now find ourselves in the month of December. The nights are getting longer and colder, and many of us are decorating evergreens, stringing twinkling lights, lighting candles, gathering with friends and loved ones, and exchanging gifts. Good cheer and best wishes are sent all around. Bright smiles and happy faces warm our hearts. And the sentiment of Good Will and Peace on Earth abounds. It's the Festive Season!

So many mythological throwbacks pop up at this time of year as well. What does mythology have to do with this jolly time of year, you wonder? Plenty!

Before Christmas and Santa Claus, the ancients celebrated and revered great figures of their own, symbols of the season. Among these figures we find the gods Saturn and Mithras.

In ancient Rome, the streets rang with merry-making, as the Festival of Saturnalia was under way. Saturnalia ran from December 17th to the 24th in honour of Saturn, god of grain and agriculture, and commemorated the Golden Age when Saturn ruled long before the Romans' time. Wearing garland on their heads, men and women filled the streets in procession carrying lighted candles and often gave presents of candles and wreaths to one another. There was much feasting, merriment, gaming, and dancing during this time. Class distinctions broke down and master and servant exchanged roles for a time.

Saturnalia was soon followed by the festival of Sigillaria. This too was a time for great feasting and mirth. Romans decorated their homes with greenery and, most importantly, it was the time for giving gifts, especially to children. They gave gifts of small objects like rings, seals, and small dolls mostly all made of terra cotta.

The ancient Persians celebrated a festival honouring the birth of the sun god Mithras at this time of the year as well. Although the Cult of Mithras had its origins in Persia, it soon took firm root in the Roman world as a dominant religion. The celebrants of this festival lit great fires and sacrificed a bull around the winter solstice to honour the Sol Invictus (Invincible Sun) represented in the form of the birth of their sun god Mithras.

Ancient Northmen (Britons, Saxons, and Norse) held their Yule Festival at this time of the year. They feasted with great cheer on cattle and prepared their Yule Logs with special care. They believed that the Yule Log would bring good luck to the family and kept it burning as long as they could.

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