He was on the crew roster, from the Philippines, and ended up staying in the U.S. aboard the Japanese passenger liner ShinyōMaru when it landed in San Francisco. Think Singapore Sling for another example. The Saturn cocktail recipe ignores rum and reminds us that gin is also a spirit employed in Tiki. When you turn to the Tiki dimension your mind usually conjures rum as you find in a Mai Tai, the Zombie or a Queen’s Park Swizzle. Those of great wealth would sometimes pass a gratuity to their poorer brethren to help them buy gifts for others. On the latter we have no archaeological evidence of ancient rubber chickens or whoopee cushions. But because gifts of value would indicate social status and would be outside the spirit of the whole event most gifts were small trinkets or gag gifts. It was like cats and dogs living together.ĭecember 19 was the day of gift giving. The usual togas were set aside for more colorful garb. Slaves were even allowed to disrespect their masters without fear of punishment. Roles were reversed, and slaves were treated to a banquet, sometimes served by their masters. Families of means did their own sacrifices of a suckling pig. Everyone continued the festivities and the usual rules were thrown out the door. The first day would include a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum, followed by a public banquet.īut it didn’t end there. Work and business came to a halt, schools were closed, exercise regimens were suspended, and normal patterns of life were put on hold. Saturnalia was a big event in Rome, the most popular of the year. ![]() ![]() That let’s you roll right into Festivus, for which we recommend the Feats of Strength cocktail. The current calendar runs from December 17 to 23. The Julian calendar, which the Romans used at the time, had winter solstice on December 25, the finale of the event. Saturnalia began as a single-day pagan celebration of Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture and time, but soon expanded to a week-long festival starting December 17. Hanukkah celebrants going out for movies and Chinese Food on Christmas day developed later. But the Romans certainly knew how to have a good time, and their celebrations are the source of many things we now associate with Christmas, such as wreaths, candles, feasting and gift giving. The Saturn cocktail is a bit newer than ancient Rome, probably just because they didn’t have gin handy in those days. So we might as well throw in Saturnalia, the ancient Roman festival and holiday in honor of the god Saturn. After all, we drink to all iterations of the holiday season, whether you’re into Hanukkah, Festivus, Christmas or Kwanzaa. There's a little discrepancy about it but there's no question that the fact that it was celebrated in Rome as an important day with gift giving, candle lighting, and singing and decorating houses really cemented Christmas as December 25.Saturnalia begins December 17, so in honor of this longstanding pagan funfest we’ll be mixing the Saturn cocktail. So when Christianity became the official religion in a sense, in Rome, they were able to fix this date. And most of the traditions that we have that relate to Christmas relate to the solstice, which was celebrated in ancient Rome on December 25. What is the solstice? It's the day that the sun starts coming back, the days start getting longer. "In ancient Rome there was a feast called Saturnalia that celebrated the solstice. Davis told "CBS This Morning." According to Davis, Christmas was celebrated as early as the fourth century, suggesting that it had almost nothing to do with Jesus Christ. "Christmas is really about bringing out your inner pagan," historian Kenneth C. Though December 25 is the day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the date itself and several of the customs we've come to associate with Christmas actually evolved from pagan traditions celebrating the winter solstice.
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