The Saturnalia - Myths

The Saturnalia is a cycle of festivals of Roman religion, dedicated to setting the temple of the god Saturn and the mythical golden age, took place December 17 to 23 (during the Empire period fixed by Domitian).

The Saturnalia had started with great banquets, sacrifices, in a crescendo that could also take sometimes orgiastic character; participants share the hope I used Saturnalia, accompanied by small symbolic gifts, those gifts.

During these celebrations had subverted the social order: the slaves of free men could be considered temporary, and how they could behave, was elected by drawing lots, a princeps-a sort of caricature of the noble class, which was assigned to each power .

In reality, the religious connotation of the party took priority over the social and "class". The "princeps" was usually dressed in a funny mask and gaudy colors among which the red (color of the gods). He was the personification of an underworld deity to be identified from time to time with Saturn or Pluto, in charge of guarding the souls of the dead, but also protecting the countryside and crops.

In Roman times it was believed that these deities, exits from the depths of the soil, wander in procession for the entire winter period, ie when the land lay fallow and was due to weather conditions.

They had to be placated with the offer of gifts and feasts in their honor and induced to return to the afterlife, where they helped the crops of the summer season.

Therefore, this is a kind of long parade of carnival "(because this festival can be traced back to Saturnalia and all subsequent agrarian rites).

The greek equivalent of the Roman god Saturn was Cronus. There was a variation on the myth of the god Saturn who saw a mythical Golden Age. Expelled by Jupiter said to have moved his kingdom in a place that the first Greeks and Romans later called "Blessed Islands".


Source: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnali


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