Today, December 17th, is the Roman feast day of the Saturnalia - their major midwinter holiday, and the beginning of a week or so of merriment (well, 3 or 5 days of continuous celebrations at various times, but a full 7 days at its best, taking it up to and beyond the solstice). Time to start whooping it up!
I've always liked the pagan festivals (defying the cruel dark of winter with ebullient merrymaking), much preferring them to the commercialized shmaltziness of the Christian holidays.
OK, this is actually La Jeunesse de Bacchus by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, a scene of riot from Greek legend rather than a Roman Saturnalia party; but you get the idea - Classical debauchery, yay!
1 comment:
Feel exactly the same way. Fortunately in northern Scotland there are still the remnants of the Yuletide celebrations! The burning of the claivie and all that. Sod Christmas!
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