Saturnalia was described by 1st century AD poet Gaius Valerius Catullus as “the best of days”. Wood writing tablet with a letter written in ink making reference to the supply of food for the Saturnalia festival. According to the author Macrobius, the celebration of Saturnalia was extended with the Sigallaria on the 10th day before the Kalends (December 23) so named for the small terracotta figurines which were sold in Roman shops and given as gifts to children. The emperor Augustus would shorten it to a three-day holiday during his reign but Caligula later extended it to five days. However, by the end of the Republic the festival was so popular that it expanded to cover a week. With the Julian reform of the calendar, Saturnalia was celebrated sixteen days before the Kalends of January (December 17). Originally the festival was celebrated on a single day, on the fourteenth before the Kalends of January (December 19), but it was later extended to three days. Saturnalia originated as a farmer’s festival to mark the end of the autumn planting season in honour of Saturnus and, despite Livy’s claim that the festival was established in 496 BC, there is evidence that it began much earlier. Playing games was an important feature of the Saturnalia celebrations. (Macrobius, Saturnalia, I.10.3) Illustration from the 4th century AD depicting a man enjoying a game of dice. Long awaited, the seven Saturnalia are now at hand. It was the merriest festival of the year and all work and business were suspended. The midwinter celebrations lasted for several days (the number changed through the Roman era) and it was a time of feasting, partying, playing games, gift-giving and role-reversal. December 17 marked the beginning of Saturnalia, one of the most popular festivals in Ancient Rome.

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