Editing Saturnalia (section)

==Influence==
[[File:Escultura Saturnalia de Ernesto Biondi.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|''Saturnalia'' (1909) by [[Ernesto Biondi]], in the [[Buenos Aires Botanical Gardens]]]]

Unlike several Roman religious festivals which were particular to cult sites in the city, the prolonged seasonal celebration of Saturnalia at home could be held anywhere in the Empire.<ref>[[Greg Woolf|Woolf, Greg]], "Found in Translation: The Religion of the Roman Diaspora," in ''Ritual Dynamics and Religious Change in the Roman Empire. Proceedings of the Eighth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Heidelberg, July 5–7, 2007)'' (Brill, 2009), p. 249. See [[Aulus Gellius]] 18.2.1 for Romans living in Athens and celebrating the Saturnalia.</ref> Saturnalia continued as a secular celebration long after it was removed from the official calendar.<ref>Michele Renee Salzman, "Religious ''Koine'' and Religious Dissent," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'' (Blackwell, 2007), p. 121.</ref> As [[William Warde Fowler]] notes: "[Saturnalia] has left its traces and found its parallels in great numbers of medieval and modern customs, occurring about the time of the winter solstice."<ref>Fowler, ''Roman Festivals'', p. 268.</ref>

The [[Date of the birth of Jesus#Day of birth|date of Jesus's birth]] is unknown.<ref name="John">{{cite book |last1=John |first1=J. |title=A Christmas Compendium |date=2005 |publisher=Continuum |location=New York City, New York and London, England |isbn=0-8264-8749-1 |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yBP8a2jJ9A4C&q=Saturnalia+Christmas&pg=PA112 }}</ref><ref name="Struthers">{{cite book |last1=Struthers |first1=Jane |title=The Book of Christmas: Everything We Once Knew and Loved about Christmastime |date=2012 |publisher=Ebury Press |location=London, England |isbn=9780091947293 |pages=17–21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YKaJsdIkOgsC&q=Saturnalia+Christmas&pg=PA18 }}</ref> A spurious correspondence between Cyril of Jerusalem and [[Pope Julius I]] (337–352), quoted by John of Nikiu in the 9th century, is sometimes given as a source for a claim that, in the fourth century AD, [[Pope Julius I]] decreed that the birth of Jesus be celebrated on 25 December.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm|title=Christmas|last=Martindale|first=Cyril|date=1908|website=The Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=Robert Appleton Company|location=New York|access-date=2018-11-18}}</ref><ref>Letter of Cyril of Jerusalem to Julius I, cited as false. {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kYFg5iRuIyMC&q=censura+julii&pg=PA965|title=Patrologiae cursus completus, seu bibliotheca universalis, integra, uniformis, commoda, oeconomica, omnium SS. Patrum, doctorum scriptorumque ecclesiasticorum, sive latinorum, qui ab aevo apostolico ad tempora Innocentii 3. (anno 1216) pro Latinis et Concilii Florentini (ann. 1439) pro Graecis floruerunt: Recusio chronologica&nbsp;...: Opera quae exstant universa Constantini Magni, Victorini necnon et Nazarii, anonymi, S. Silvestri papae , S. Marci papae , S. Julii papae , Osii Cordubensis, Candidi Ariani, Liberii papae , et Potamii|date=1844|publisher=Vrayet|pages=965|language=la}}</ref> Some speculate that the date was chosen to create a Christian replacement or alternative to Saturnalia<ref name="John"/> and the birthday festival of [[Sol Invictus]], held on 25 December.<ref name="Struthers"/> Around AD 200, [[Tertullian]] had berated Christians for continuing to celebrate the pagan Saturnalia festival.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graf |first1=Fritz |title=Roman Festivals in the Greek East: From the Early Empire to the Middle Byzantine Era |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=77, 152}}</ref> The Church may have hoped to attract more converts to Christianity by allowing them to continue to celebrate on the same day.<ref name="Struthers"/>  The Church may have also been influenced by the idea that Jesus was conceived and died on the same date;<ref name="Struthers"/> Jesus died during Passover and, in the third century AD, Passover was celebrated on 25 March.<ref name="Struthers"/> The Church may have calculated Jesus's birthday as nine months later, on 25 December.<ref name="Struthers"/> But in fact the correspondence is spurious.<ref name="auto"/>

[[File:David Teniers (II) - Twelfth-night (The King Drinks) - WGA22083.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''The King Drinks'' (between 1634 and 1640) by [[David Teniers the Younger]], showing a [[Twelfth Night (holiday)|Twelfth Night]] celebration with a "[[Lord of Misrule]]"]]

As a result of the close proximity of dates, many Christians in western Europe continued to celebrate traditional Saturnalia customs in association with Christmas and the surrounding holidays.<ref name="John"/><ref name="Forbes">{{cite book |last1=Forbes |first1=Bruce David |title=Christmas: A Candid History |date=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, California |isbn=978-0-520-25104-5 |pages=9–10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqmlzjMYMRAC&q=Saturnalia+Christmas&pg=PA10 }}</ref><ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/> Like Saturnalia, Christmas during the [[Middle Ages]] was a time of ruckus, drinking, gambling, and overeating.<ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/> The tradition of the ''Saturnalicius princeps'' was particularly influential.<ref name="Forbes"/><ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/> In medieval France and Switzerland, a boy would be elected "[[Boy bishop|bishop for a day]]" on 28 December (the [[Feast of the Holy Innocents]])<ref name="Forbes"/><ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/> and would issue decrees much like the ''Saturnalicius princeps''.<ref name="Forbes"/><ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/> The boy bishop's tenure ended during the evening [[vespers]].<ref name="Mackenzie">{{cite book |last1=Mackenzie |first1=Neil |title=The Medieval Boy Bishops |date=2012 |publisher=Matadore |location=Leicestershire, England |isbn=978-1780880-082 |pages=26–29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_noYDwZ-2XUC&q=boy+bishop+Feast+of+the+Holy+Innocents&pg=PA29 }}</ref> This custom was common across western Europe, but varied considerably by region;<ref name="Mackenzie"/> in some places, the boy bishop's orders could become quite rowdy and unrestrained,<ref name="Mackenzie"/> but, in others, his power was only ceremonial.<ref name="Mackenzie"/> In some parts of France, during the boy bishop's tenure, the actual clergy would wear masks or dress in women's clothing, a reversal of roles in line with the traditional character of Saturnalia.<ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/>

During the [[Late Middle Ages|late medieval period]] and early [[Renaissance]], many towns in England elected a "[[Lord of Misrule]]" at Christmas time to preside over the [[Feast of Fools]].<ref name="Forbes"/><ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/> This custom was sometimes associated with the [[Twelfth Night (holiday)|Twelfth Night]] or [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaheen |first1=Naseeb |title=Biblical References in Shakespeare's Plays |date=1999 |publisher=[[University of Delaware Press]] |location=Newark, Maryland |isbn=978-1-61149-358-0 |page=196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CqhJRC2JEScC&q=Twelfth+Night+feast+of+fools&pg=PT196 }}</ref> A common tradition in western Europe was to drop a [[Bean-feast|bean, coin, or other small token into a cake or pudding]];<ref name="Forbes"/> whoever found the object would become the "King (or Queen) of the Bean".<ref name="Forbes"/> During the [[Reformation|Protestant Reformation]], reformers sought to revise or even completely abolish such practices, which they regarded as "[[Papist|popish]]";<ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/> these efforts were largely successful.<ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/><ref name="Jeffrey">{{cite book |last=Jeffrey |first=Yvonne |title=The Everything Family Christmas Book |date=17 September 2008 |publisher=Everything Books |language=en |isbn=9781605507835 |pages=46–47}}</ref> The Puritans banned the "Lord of Misrule" in England<ref name="Jeffrey"/> and the custom was largely forgotten shortly thereafter, though the bean in the pudding survived as a tradition of a small gift to the one finding a single almond hidden in the traditional Christmas porridge in Scandinavia.<ref name="Jeffrey"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sjue |first1=K. |title=Historien om mandelen i grøten |url=https://www.dagbladet.no/mat/ingen-vet-helt-hvorfor-vi-har-mandel-i-groten/66561595 |access-date=25 November 2019 |agency=Dagbladet |date=25 December 2016}}</ref>

Nonetheless, in the middle of the nineteenth century, some of the old ceremonies, such as gift-giving, were revived in English-speaking countries as part of a widespread "Christmas revival".<ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/><ref name="Jeffrey"/><ref name="Rowel1993">{{cite journal |last=Rowell |first=Geoffrey |date=December 1993 |journal=[[History Today]] |volume=43 |issue=12 |access-date=December 28, 2016 |language=en |url=http://www.historytoday.com/geoffrey-rowell/dickens-and-construction-christmas |title=Dickens and the Construction of Christmas}}</ref> During this revival, authors such as [[Charles Dickens]] sought to reform the "conscience of Christmas" and turn the formerly riotous holiday into a family-friendly occasion.<ref name="Rowel1993"/> Vestiges of the Saturnalia festivities may still be preserved in some of the traditions now associated with Christmas.<ref name="GraftonMostSettis"/><ref name="Stuttard2012">{{cite web |last1=Stuttard |first1=David |author-link=David Stuttard |date=17 December 2012 |title=Did the Romans invent Christmas? |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/20617780 |website=bbc.co.uk |publisher=British Broadcasting Company }}</ref> The custom of gift-giving at Christmas time resembles the Roman tradition of giving ''sigillaria''<ref name="Stuttard2012"/> and the lighting of [[Advent candles]] resembles the Roman tradition of lighting torches and wax tapers.<ref name="Stuttard2012"/><ref name="Forbes"/> Likewise, Saturnalia and Christmas both share associations with eating, drinking, singing, and dancing.<ref name="Stuttard2012"/><ref name="Forbes"/>