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What is Saturnalia? You may have heard of this Roman holiday, but the details are scant and fragmentary from Roman sources. This video explains what we know about Saturnalia and whether or not it influenced the institution of Christmas.
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PRIMARY SOURCES:
Chronographia anni 354
Seneca, “Moral Letters”
Lucian, “Saturnalia”
Athenaeus, “The Learned Banqueters”
Plutarch, “Moralia”
Macrobius, “Saturnalia”
Martial
Suetonius, “Augustus” and “Vespasian”
Pliny, “Letters,” 4
Historia Augusta, Life of Verus, 7
Justinus
“Collection of Memorable Things”
Epictetus, “Discourses”
Catullus 14
Hippolytus, “Chronograph” and “Commentary on Daniel”
Julius Africanus, “Chronograph”
Augustine “On the Trinity”
On Solstices and Equinoxes
SECONDARY SOURCES:
Andrew McGowan, “How December 25 Became Christmas,”
C. Philipp E. Nothaft, “Early Christian Chronology and the Origins of the Christmas Date: In Defense of the ‘Calculation Theory,'” QL 94 (2013), 247-265.
Thomas Schmidt, “Calculating December 25 as the Birth of Jesus in Hippolytus’ Canon and Chronicon,” Vigiliae Christian 69 (2015) 542-563:
Fanny Dolansky, “Celebrating the Saturnalia: Religious Ritual and Roman Domestic Life,” Chapter 29 in A Companion to Families in the Greek and Roman Worlds,” 2010.
Gaston Halsberghe, Cult of Sol Invictus, Brill 2015.
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32 Comments
Learning about this in 2025 really makes me realize not much has changed, yet slavery has been reframed to what being employed is these days. We are still being socially controlled.
🇲🇾👍
Thank goodness Jan 6 lost out
What a mockery, Marie Antoinette didn't say let them eat cake either!
It’s all astronomical/astrological. Christianity is simply the current incarnation of Sun worship, Literally GODS’ SUN….the more interesting aspect these days is that we are living through the transition of the age of Pisces into Aquarius, which is all based on the position of the Sun. I wonder what new form of Sun worship will be revealed onto the world 🤔
I love zucchinis without mold. So delicious!
"i covered this in another video too" shows video of a nice looking young man i've never seen in my life
incredible video but do u ever blink?
Human pregnancy is 40 weeks, so 10 months, not 9.
Christmas has to do with Saint Nicholas. He secretly left gold for a poor neighbor who was going to sell his 3 daughters to a brothel. Please learn your history. Saint Nicholas was very wealthy and he died and was proclaimed as a Saint by the Catholic church.
so basically they gave the slaves a week off to give them something to look forward to. such outstanding benefits. did they have dental too?
The ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia has had a direct influence on many Christmas traditions, including:
Gift-giving: Romans gave each other gifts during Saturnalia, similar to the Christmas tradition.
Lighting candles: Romans lit torches and wax tapers during Saturnalia, similar to the lighting of Advent candles.
Decorating with greenery: Romans decorated their homes with wreaths and evergreen plants, similar to Christmas decorations.
Feasting: Romans ate and drank a lot during Saturnalia, similar to Christmas dinner.
Singing: Romans sang and shared stories during Saturnalia, similar to Christmas caroling.
Wearing special hats: Romans wore cone-shaped hats called pillei during Saturnalia.
Yep it's just a coincidence that Christianity took another pagan festival and change the name to their own!
sa-sa-sa saturnaliah!
Dude demonstrably loves Arizona Tea,
Just look at that bookshelf. Retro with the glass remember? Good times
Jesus was never born in winter. According to the bible he was born in either spring or fall
2:54 I believe generative AI was overfed with that relief. 😏
Thanks for making me king retards
Your research is deeply flawed. Jesus died at 33 1/2 years old. His ministry was 3 1/2 years. He was born around October 1-2 2 BCE.
Demonic Rituals.
In the past, like long long ago so long ago past, people worshipped nature and events associated with nature . So prior to Romans also solistaice was celebrated ! So as Jesus was popular with people why disturb it tag along any event associated with Jesus on the solistaice be it real or artificial . Bottom line people comes and goes natural events like solistaice remain constant and Pre Pagans, Pagans, Christians, Robotains drum about the natural event !!!
Literally no mention of the Catholic Church intertwining it with Christmas in like 386
The Scriptures do not tell followers to celebrate anyone’s birthday. The only thing about, what sounds like Christmas, is in Jeremiah and not in a good way.
So how many or you are putting up xmas trees of the slave and celebrating your defeat by the tares of scripture..
So Saturnalia was probably the original "Freak-Offs"
On December 17 Saturnalia will begin. I grow up in a satanic illuminati cult. You know it is common to bring a pine tree(pyramid) home and put an angel (satan) on top? Well, this story was told to me by satan. Many people do not know that one of satan’s names is Coca-Cola. This come from demonic language and translate as “empty inside”. This is a story of demon by the name of Coca-Cola. Demon is the title anyone can get as long as their vibration is low. So the story. Ones there were a pine tree forest. There was a nest with 3 eggs on one of the trees (satan’s trinity). Eventually all 3 baby birds hatched but there was something wrong with one of the baby birds. Two of them grew normally and eventually left the nest. One of the babies however grew in size but never matured. It was one day old forever. Eventually it outgrew parents. One day it became so big it stud above the tree tops. It was so hungry all the time, so empty. He would eventually suck everything alive out of that forest. He was a great owl named Coca Cola. Also, I probably will be skinned alive for talking about it.
So where did the Christmas tree come from?
Jesus was not born in December. Christmas festivities are steeped in materialistic humanism.. it took me years to figure this out as a Christian… a true Christian celebrates Jesus birthday everyday.. and lives to assimilate to his precepts and personality consistently… not just one day a year..
Rome was demonic
Chester UK
How would you treat your slaves, knowing they get a week of payback every year? Fascinating adaptation to empathy of the human condition.
and science / astrology would place this in the 7 century
What a cool holiday. Thanks 4 the demo. No wonder the romans picked the 17th. In numerology, this equals 8—Saturn’s no.
Spring birth 4 Jesus,
I heard that b4. No longer believe it. Mythicism is a stronger position., and if they do strongly hold contradicting position in his birth, why not set Christmas 🎄 in March? It’s obviously a pre-Christian tradition.