Held on December 17th in the Julian calendar, the Roman festival of Saturnalia is an ancient festival held in honour of the god Saturn (although the festivities extended up until the 23rd of December). A time for festivities, revelry, and the exchange of gifts, Saturnalia bore a lot of similarities to the modern Christmas tradition. 

To honour this event, the local legion in York (Eboracum), the VI Legio VICTRIX, held a Saturnalia parade through the streets to which Magister Militum were invited (alongside local Viking re-enactment group The Volsung). The parade culminated in an invocation of “Io Saturnalia!” (an equivalent of “Happy Saturnalia!”) before the steps of York Minster and beside the statue of Emperor Constantine. The festival dates back to the 5th century BC, and began with sacrifice to Saturn at a temple. Following this, the period of feasting and celebration began. In our modern-day version, we instead opened with the VI Legio's optio reading a comemoration of the festival in both English and Latin (kept short due to sub-zero temperatures on the day), a chorus of “Io Saturnalia!”, and culminated in a visit to the Three Legged Mare pub before feasting heartily on an excellent curry. 

We would like to thank the VI Legio VICTRIX for hosting the event and inviting us along, it was a tremendously fun way to see off the 2022 season with style. 

We would also like to thank David Harrison from the York Press for taking (and giving permission to use) his photographs.