A Place of Brightness: Saturnalia

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Sigillaria and Saturnalia

During the time of Saturnalia, December 17-23, people gifted one another with sigillaria (singular sigillarium), earthenware or waxen figurines of human figures.

This giving of gifts at this time of the year is likely preserved in the Christian Christmas customs.

The practice is described by Macrobius in Saturnalia 1.11:
Ex illo traditum ut cerei Saturnalibus missitarentur, et sigilla arte fictili fingerentur ac venalia pararentur quae homines pro se atque suis piaculum pro Dite Saturno facerent.
Wherefore, it is handed down that waxen articles were sent back and forth for Saturnalia, and seals were formed from earthenware skill and other purchasable articles were prepared which people, for themselves and their own, would make as a sacrifice for the god Saturn.

It was suggested even in ancient times that the sigillaria were a substitution of an earlier practice of human sacrifice. Macrobius describes Evangelus as countering that, the sigillaria were only a toy (lusum) for children.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturnalia!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Io Saturnalia

Today, December 17th, marks the beginning of the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia. It was a delightful holiday, lasting through December 23rd, in honor of the pre-Olympian titan Saturn. It recalled a Golden Age in which institutions such as slavery did not exist. As such, during Saturnalia, the slave-masters actually reversed the roles and waited on tables for their slaves. It was a time of games, gambling, and partying.

In my Latin classes, I use the final day before Winter Break to have a Saturnalia party, in which I will serve each of them with a Twizzler and sing Christmas Carols in Latin.

So let the games begin! Io Saturnalia! One and All!

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In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

Next Stop: Spanish, the 3rd Novel in the Valquist Series

This third novel in the Valquist Series can be read as an espionage action-adventure in its own right, but also you can use it as a way to either brush up on your Spanish or learn functional Spanish for the first time! John Valquist needs to learn Spanish. But he's in luck, since his uncle Andrew is a language expert and a former (?) spy who is taking him on a vacation to Spain so he can study the language. In Next Stop: Spanish, you have the chance to see and study the words John studies, and then watch him add more and more Spanish into his dialogue as the story progresses. During this vacation, they get pulled into espionage intrigue (why do these things always happen to the Valquist family?). In the dramatic conclusion, John will need to put together everything he has learned to save his uncle!

Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!