Editing Saturnalia (section)

===Jewish===
[[Mishna|M.]] [[Avodah Zarah]] lists Saturnalia as a "festival of the gentiles," along with the [[Calends]] of January and [[Kratesis]].{{Efn|'''קלנטס וסטרנלייא''' ''Kalends and Saturnalia'' in MSS Kaufmann A50 and Parma A (de Rossi 138). The spelling is the same in both, though Kaufmann's [[Waw (letter)#Words written as vav|waw-conjunctive]] is the work of a later scribe and the phrase has been struck through in Parma A. All Mishnaic printings have edited the spellings toward the ''Kalenda and Saturnura'' of b. Avodah Zarah MSS.{{cn|date=January 2025}}}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mishnah Avodah Zarah 1:3|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Avodah_Zarah.1.3|access-date=2021-03-05|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> [[Avodah Zarah|B. Avodah Zarah]] records that [[Hanan bar Rava|Ḥanan b. Rava]] said, "Kalends{{Efn|קלנדא ''Kalenda'' in extant MSS; however Ḥananel b. Ḥushiel quotes s.v. "קלנדס" ''Kalends''.{{cn|date=January 2025}}}} is held during the eight days after the [[Winter solstice|[winter] solstice]] and Saturnura{{Efn|MSS variants: ''Saturnaya'', ''Saturnurya''. This is likely a pun on סתר-נורא ''satar-nura'' "cloaking of the flame"; i.e. the shortening of the day which the solstice represents. In all printings of b. Avodah Zarah, the final mention of the holiday has been corrected to Saturnalia, though all MSS read Saturnura as before.{{cn|date=January 2025}}}} begins eight days before the [winter] solstice".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Avodah Zarah 6a:10|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Avodah_Zarah.6a.10|access-date=2021-03-05|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> [[Chananel ben Chushiel|Ḥananel b. Ḥushiel]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rabbeinu Chananel on Avodah Zarah 6a:3|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Rabbeinu_Chananel_on_Avodah_Zarah.6a.3|access-date=2021-07-22|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> followed by [[Rashi]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rashi on Avodah Zarah 6a:10:1|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Avodah_Zarah.6a.10.1|access-date=2021-07-22|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> claims: "Eight days before the solstice -- their festival was for all eight days," which slightly overstates the Saturnalia's historical six-day length, possibly to associate the holiday with [[Hanukkah]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Sarit|first=Kattan Gribetz|date=2020-11-17|title=Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691192857.001.0001|doi=10.23943/princeton/9780691192857.001.0001|isbn=9780691192857|s2cid=241016818 }}</ref>

In the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], ''[[Avodah Zarah]]'' claims the etymology of Saturnalia is שנאה טמונה ''śinʾâ ṭǝmûnâ'' "hidden hatred," and refers to the hatred [[Esau]], whom the Rabbis believed had fathered Rome, harbored for [[Jacob]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jerusalem Talmud Avodah Zarah 3a:1|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Avodah_Zarah.3a.1|access-date=2021-07-23|website=www.sefaria.org|archive-date=2021-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820143819/https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Avodah_Zarah.3a.1|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Babylonian Talmud]]'s ''Avodah Zarah'' ascribes the origins of Saturnalia (and Kalends) to [[Adam]], who saw that the days were getting shorter and thought it was punishment for his sin:
{{quote|When the [[Adam|First Man]] saw that the day was continuously shortening, he said, "Woe is me! Because I have sinned, the world darkens around me, and returns to formlessness and void. This is the death to which Heaven has sentenced me!" He decided to spend eight days in fasting and prayer. When he saw the winter solstice, and he saw that the day was continuously lengthening, he said, "It is the order of the world!" He went and feasted for eight days. The following year, he feasted for both. He established them in Heaven's name, but they established them in the name of idolatry.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Avodah Zarah 8a:7|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Avodah_Zarah.8a.7|access-date=2021-07-23|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>}}In the Babylonian ''Avodah Zarah'', this etiology is attributed to the [[tannaim]], but the story is suspiciously similar to the etiology of Kalends attributed by the Jerusalem Avodah Zarah to [[Abba Arikha]].<ref name=":1" />