December 16, 2004
What the....?
Maybe it's just me, but wasn't Saturnalia a religious festival too?
You know what would really make me laugh? Some chuckleheads demanding to set up on a public property a statue of Mithra cutting off the balls of a bull while dancing nekkid around a tree in the snow on the 25th.
Posted by Steve at December 16, 2004 12:29 PMMost of what I think of when Saturnalia comes up, I got from here (link pretty much NSFW, by the by...)
Posted by: LDH at December 16, 2004 12:34 PMMy point exactly. I remember the exact point where the Christmas break became the Winter break at my elementary school.
It just seems inverted to raise the accusation that people are conspiring to inject religion into the season celebration.
Maybe if December 25 originated as "Double Your Denarius Day" at the Coliseum Gift Shoppe in Rome, then yes, maybe the religious nuts have gone too far.
BTW, I think I saw a Saturnalia rite once in New York's trendy SOHO district.
Posted by: Gordon at December 16, 2004 01:16 PM
