![]() Talking about A Christmas Carol, it turns out that that Charles Dickens’ famous tale, which did so much to establish Christmas as we know it today, was inspired by a Roman story. Doesn’t the second spirit in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol turn up with a cornucopia? Again they seem to do the job, even though I cannot be sure they are necessarily linked to Saturnalia. I also tried the lamps drawers and sure enough there are lamps depicting garlands and cornucopiae or horns of plenty. But we don’t know they are definitely related to Saturnalia. The head of a woman wearing a garland and an Eros riding a goose seemed like reasonable candidates, more because of their panto associations (Norman Collier and his chicken act or Rod Hull and Emu). I also searched the documentation system for the fired clay figurines that were exchanged at Saturnalia using the term ‘sigillaria’ but this didn’t take me any further so I went into the store to look at the collection of terracotta figurines. Terracotta apple from the Manchester Museum collection – a possible ‘joke gift’? The closest I can get to a ‘gag gift’ in the collection is a terracotta apple of uncertain provenance. ![]() Personally, I’ve always been more of an Antony fan. Which must have made the first Roman emperor’s Saturnalia parties an absolute hoot, if you like that kind of thing. The Emperor Augustus apparently was a great fan of what would now be referred to as ‘joke or gag-gifts’: the equivalent of our kitchen aprons with breasts on them, whoopee cushions, fake poo and the like. However, we do have some leg bones from fighting cocks complete with spurs that the label says are Roman (or is this a spoof?) Leg bones complete with spurs from fighting cocks (1981.869-871). The usual prohibition against gambling was relaxed at Saturnalia but many of the Roman gaming pieces from Manchester are on display in the Ancient Worlds archaeology gallery. But what about objects? I found out that people exchanged gifts of wax or fired clay figurines called sigillaria, decorated their houses with garlands and generally indulged themselves with food, drink and good cheer. All I could remember was that the masters swapped places with the slaves and the slaves became masters for the day. Instead I tried to find out what actually happened at Saturnalia. Perhaps predictably when I searched on the documentation system using the term ‘Saturnalia’ I got no responses. ![]() With Christmas almost upon us I’ve been looking for objects related to the Roman mid-winter festival of Saturnalia in the archaeology collection, although it can be difficult to find things that are directly associated.
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