News ‘Io, Saturnalia!’: Year 9 classicists honour Saturn 16.12.2020

On Tuesday morning, Year 9 classicists celebrated the ancient Roman pagan festival of Saturnalia.

Saturnalia, in honour of the agricultural god Saturn, was the most popular holiday on the ancient Roman calendar. Many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas – gift giving, feasting, lighting candles and games – derived from Saturnalia, including the time of year its celebrated.

Students had to wait until a little later in the day for their feast, but they still enjoyed learning the history of the festival, performing humorous short plays for their classmates and had plenty of festive fun with a Christmas-themed Classics quiz.