Editing Saturnalia (section)

===Gift-giving===
{{main|Sigillaria (ancient Rome)}}
The Sigillaria on 19 December was a day of gift-giving.<ref>{{harvnb|Dolansky|2011|pages=492, 502}} [[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.10.24, seems to indicate that the Sigillaria was a market that occurred at the end of Saturnalia, but the [[Gallo-Roman]] scholar-poet [[Ausonius]] (''Eclogues'' 16.32) refers to it as a religious occasion ''(sacra sigillorum,'' "rites of the ''sigillaria''").</ref> Because gifts of value would mark social status contrary to the spirit of the season, these were often the [[ancient Roman pottery|pottery]] or wax figurines called ''[[Sigillaria (ancient Rome)|sigillaria]]'' made specially for the day, candles, or "[[gag gift]]s", of which [[Augustus]] was particularly fond.<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''Life of Augustus'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#75 75]; {{harvnb|Versnel|1992|page=148}}, pointing to the ''[http://lucianofsamosata.info/Cronosolon.html Cronosolon]'' of Lucian on the problem of unequal gift-giving.</ref> Children received toys as gifts.<ref>Beryl Rawson, "Adult-Child Relationships in Ancient Rome," in ''Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 19.</ref> In his many poems about the Saturnalia, [[Martial]] names both expensive and quite cheap gifts, including writing tablets, dice, [[knucklebones]], moneyboxes, combs, toothpicks, a hat, a hunting knife, an axe, various lamps, balls, [[perfume]]s, pipes, a pig, a sausage, a [[parrot]], tables, cups, spoons, items of clothing, statues, masks, books, and pets.<ref>[[Martial]], ''Epigrams'' 13 and 14, the ''Xenia'' and the ''Apophoreta'', published 84–85 AD.</ref> Gifts might be as costly as a slave or exotic animal,<ref>{{harvnb|Dolansky|2011|page=492}} citing [[Martial]] 5.18, 7.53, 14; Suetonius, ''Life of Augustus'' 75 and ''Life of Vespasian'' 19 on the range of gifts.</ref> but Martial suggests that token gifts of low intrinsic value inversely measure the high quality of a friendship.<ref>Ruurd R. Nauta, ''Poetry for Patrons: Literary Communication in the Age of Domitian'' (Brill, 2002), pp. 78–79.</ref> [[Patronage in ancient Rome|Patrons]] or "bosses" might pass along a gratuity ''(sigillaricium)'' to their poorer clients or dependents to help them buy gifts. Some [[Roman emperor|emperors]] were noted for their devoted observance of the Sigillaria.<ref>{{harvnb|Versnel|1992|pages=148–149}}, citing Macrobius, ''Saturnalia'' 1.10.24 and 1.11.49; [[Suetonius]], ''Life of Claudius'' 5; ''[[Scriptores Historiae Augustae]]'' Hadrian [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Hadrian/2*.html#17.3 17.3], Caracalla [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Caracalla*.html#1.8 1.8] and Aurelian [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Aurelian/3*.html#ref184 50.3.] See also {{harvnb|Dolansky|2011|page=492}}</ref>

In a practice that might be compared to modern [[greeting card]]s, verses sometimes accompanied the gifts. Martial has a collection of poems written as if to be attached to gifts.<ref>Martial, Book 14 ''(Apophoreta)''; Williams, ''Martial: Epigrams'', p. 259; Nauta, ''Poetry for Patrons,'' p. 79 ''et [https://books.google.com/books?id=EelGbtB7ppsC&q=saturnalia passim.]''</ref>{{sfn|Versnel|1992|page=148}} Catullus received a book of bad poems by "the worst poet of all time" as a joke from a friend.<ref>[[Catullus]], ''Carmen'' 14; Robinson Ellis, ''A Commentary on Catullus'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1876), pp. 38–39.</ref>

Gift-giving was not confined to the day of the Sigillaria. In some households, guests and family members received gifts after the feast in which slaves had shared.{{sfn|Dolansky|2011|page=492}}