Imagine a world where, once a year, the rules
are turned upside down and lawlessness reigns. People are free - even encouraged - to act
out their darkest desires; otherwise law abiding citizens terrorize their neighbours, vandalizing,
thieving, even raping and murdering with abandon. If that sounds to you like something straight
out of a horror movie, well, you’re not entirely wrong. The blockbuster horror franchise The Purge
did steal - er, borrow - it’s terrifying plot from a very real historical purge ritual. The ancient festival of Saturnalia was the
real life “The Purge” - and the movies have nothing on the real deal. In case you’ve been living under a rock
for the last 7 years, The Purge is a wildly popular horror movie franchise set in a dystopian
future world where, for one day a year, lawlessness rules. During the Purge all crimes are legal and
people are encouraged to satisfy their darkest desires. For 24 hours, chaos reigns as friends and
neighbours turn on each other, and otherwise orderly citizens commit robbery, home invasion,
rape, assult and murder with abandon. If the concept of a lawless purge sounds to
you like something that could only come out of the modern movie industry, then you might
be surprised to learn that the idea is actually rooted in a very real ancient tradition. The Roman festival of Saturnalia goes back
thousands of years, and some aspects of the celebration bear an unsettling resemblance
to the films’ premise. The jolliest and most popular holiday in ancient
Rome, the festival of Saturnalia was a week-long celebration where the only rule was that there
were no rules. Everything was fair game during Saturnalia,
and people could indulge their every whim without fear of consequences. Saturnalia is mentioned in Roman sources as
far back as the 5th century B.C., but it was likely inspired by even older traditions. Pagan farmers had long been celebrating the
end of the darkness of winter and the coming of the longer days of spring with feasts and
festivals honoring the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. As the Roman Empire spread throughout Europe,
this pagan solstice tradition was incorporated into the Roman culture and mythology, and
it evolved into the festival of Saturnalia. In keeping with its roots as a farmer’s
festival, the early Roman version of Saturnalia was associated with the religious cult of
Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. The latin word satus means “to sow” or
“seed”, and we can also thank Saturn for the name of everyone’s favorite day of the
week - Saturday. Early Saturnalia lasted only one day, and
was celebrated with feasts and sacrifices at Saturn’s temple. The Temple of Saturn in the Northwest corner
of Rome’s Forum was the ceremonial centre of Saturnalia festivities. To kick off the celebrations, a young pig
would be sacrificed in the temple, and the statue of Saturn, which normally had its feet
bound with wool, would be ceremoniously untied to signify his liberation - and to free him
to join in on the fun and mischief. Early Saturnalia was a time of celebration
and indulgence, but it was not yet the ancient Purge that it would later become. Things would soon get much darker. As the Roman Empire grew, the ruling class
began to realize that festivals and celebrations were a valuable tool for controlling and pacifying
the masses, and Saturnalia underwent yet another transformation - Saturnalia was on the verge
of becoming the real life Purge. By the year 120 AD, the festival of Saturnalia
had grown from a single day of feasting to an entire week of festivities from December
17th to the 25th. As the celebrations grew longer, rulers began
granting a holiday reprieve from certain social norms, and before long, Saturnalia had become
a week long free-for-all. Under later Roman rulers, Saturnalia was a
time when the populace was encouraged to act out their every desire without fear of retribution,
so it’s not that surprising that it was the most popular holiday in ancient Rome. The celebration wasn’t an entirely benevolent
gesture, though - it was thought that this “holiday from the rules” would give people
a chance to release any pent up resentment, rage and frustration on each other, leading
to lower crime rates during the rest of the year, and a lower chance that the people would
revolt against their rulers. And, since it was not uncommon for the celebrations
to take on a violent edge, it would also give the people a taste of what life would be like
without law and order. For the ruling class of Romans, Saturnalia
was a not-so-subtle reminder to the populace that life was better under their rule. During the week-long celebration, all seriousness
was barred. Dress codes were relaxed and people dressed
in loud, bright colours. Businesses were closed and all work was cancelled. Executions were postponed and rulers refrained
from declaring war during Saturnalia. The courts were closed, which effectively
meant that you either participated in the festivities, or you were on your own. Even slaves were freed from their duties and
allowed to participate in the festivities. One of the most exciting elements of the Saturnalia
celebrations was the complete reversal of the social order. Children were encouraged to disobey parents
and cause mayhem; the wealthy were expected to feed and pay rent for the poor; masters
even traded places with their slaves, swapping clothing and places at the table. If you were lucky enough to be chosen as the
Saturnalian Monarch, you would be in for an extra special treat. The lowlier members of the household, usually
children and slaves, would throw dice or hide coins or other small objects in a cake to
choose the lucky winner. That person that got the lucky piece of cake
would be treated like a King or Queen for the entire week. The Saturnalian Monarch would eat like a king,
dress like a queen, and was the “Lord of Misrule” responsible for causing mischief,
insulting guests and reigning over chaos. Families would decorate their homes for the
Saturnalia celebrations with laurel wreaths and green trees lit up with candles. Friends would exchange small gifts like dolls,
caged birds, and candles to signal the return of light after the darkness of winter. On the final day of Saturnalia, friends would
exchange small terracotta figurines called sigillaria, small dolls with moveable limbs
that may have been meant as stand-ins for the human sacrifices in the more primitive
traditions that existed long before Saturnalia. While there were plenty of wholesome traditions,
Saturnalia was really all about one thing - partying. Many of the more serious citizens looked down
on the inebriated masses, but most Romans looked forward to letting go of their inhibitions
and indulging in a week of debauchery. For most, it was relatively harmless fun - the
streets would take on a Mardi-Gras atmosphere, and the drinking, gambling, singing and dancing
in the streets would carry on until the early morning hours every night of the week. Of course, when the alcohol is flowing things
can easily get out of hand - and during Saturnalia, they usually did. Drunken injuries and even accidental deaths
were to be expected during the week-long binge. Emboldened by booze and a lack of consequences,
partiers accomplished all sorts of mischief, from vandalising homes and public buildings
to petty theft and nasty pranks. No festival dedicated to indulging one’s
deepest desires would be complete without plenty of drunken fighting and...ahem, fornicating. Partying and mischief may have been mainstays
of Saturnalia, but the festival wasn’t all fun and games. Just like in the movies, when bad behaviour
is encouraged and there are no consequences, things can quickly take a dark turn. Drunken fights would frequently devolve into
outright murder. Saturnalia was the perfect time to exact revenge
on someone who had wronged you, or to intimidate - or even eliminate - a rival. Thieves would take advantage of the celebratory
atmosphere and lack of law and order to burglarize the homes of partygoers. Even those whose deepest desires were truly
deplorable had free reign to indulge them during Saturnalia, and unfortunately brutal
rape and murder were the unfortunate consequenes of this “holiday from the rules”. With the courts closed and law-and-order off
duty, there was nowhere to turn for help. It was every man for himself, and law-abiding
Romans just hoping to enjoy a well deserved break from work were at the mercy of the inebriated
masses. Of course, this is exactly what the Roman
rulers had in mind - a nice little reminder that life is better under their laws than
without them. And it’s not like this was just “a few
bad apples” - the officials were in on it, too. Early sources shed light on a particularly
gruesome Saturnalia ritual. In a horror-movie version of the tradition
of the Mock King of the house, communities would select a special victim - er… “winner”
- who would be King or Queen for the day. They would drink and feast like royalty during
the day, and indulge in other “pleasures” all through the night, before they were brutally
slaughtered on the steps of Staurn’s temple, a sacrifice to the god and a symbol of the
destruction of the forces of darkness and evil. The conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity
in 312 AD spelled the beginning of the end for Saturnalia. As Christianity became the official religion
of the Roman empire, the Church moved to ban any pagan rituals that might threaten its
authority. Saturnalia didn’t disappear altogether - it
remained a popular carnival as late as 449 AD - but it’s place as the most popular
Roman holiday was usurped by a new, Christian holiday celebrating the birth of their savior
- a little thing called Christmas. Hmm...between the December 25th date, the
greenery decorations, and the exchanging of gifts, we almost have to wonder if Christmas
might have “borrowed” a few traditions from the ancient Romans! Saturnalia was not the only ancient celebration
that gave people a “holiday from the rules”. There are many parallels between the ancient
Roman and Greek cultures, and this is no exception - the Greek festival of Kronia was remarkably
similar to the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Kronos was the Greek god of agriculture, and
his festival, Kronia, originated as a farmer’s harvest festival and evolved into a tradition
of inverting the social order - all work was cancelled, and for one night, slaves were
allowed to dine with their masters. Ancient sources have noted that the celebrating
slaves “made riotous noise during their feast and time off, creating chaos throughout
the city”. The ancient Egyptians had the Tekh Festival
- the Feast of Drunkenness - which was a celebration of the time that, according to Eyptian myth,
humanity was saved from a bloodthirsty god by...beer. Yepp, beer. So it’s not surprising that this holiday,
which was most popular around 1500 B.C., was celebrated by getting rip-roaring drunk and
passing out in the temple. Now that you know that The Purge movies were
inspired by the ancient festival of Saturnalia, you might be wondering if something like that
could actually happen today. Well, you might say that it already has...kind
of. In 2016, an Indiana teen was arrested for
kidnapping a woman and was later charged with killing 2 people. He claims to have been inspired by the movies,
and he told his girlfriend “You better go on Facebook and watch the videos of me shooting
people. I Purge every night now.” Okay, so that was one insane person, but could
we ever see a world in which purges are a real thing? And could that possibly be a good thing? The justification behind a purge - both the
movie version and the real Saturnalia one - was to give the population a “release
valve”, which would theoretically improve the economy and reduce violence and crime
during the rest of the year. According to Forbes Magazine, though, a purge
would only serve to increase the socioeconomic inequality that is already rampant in our
society, since only the wealthy could afford to protect themselves. Even worse, it would increase habituation
towards violent behavior and destroy the economy as the insurance industry, real estate market
and small businesses collapsed. Perhaps this is a tradition best left to the
past. Once again, it turns out that real life is
even more unbelievable than the movies. The ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia was
one part real life The Purge, one part jolly, Christmas-y celebration, and a whole lot of
chaos! Now go check out “How Did A Whole Village
Disappear?”, or this other one instead! Thanks for watching, and don’t forget to
like, share and subscribe!
