![]() ![]() If the view here suggested of the Carnival is correct, this grotesque personage is no other than a direct successor of the old King of the Saturnalia, the master of the revels, the real man who personated Saturn and, when the revels were over, suffered a real death in his assumed character.” “a conspicuous feature of the Carnival is a burlesque figure personifying the festive season, which after a short career of glory and dissipation is publicly shot, burnt, or otherwise destroyed, to the feigned grief or genuine delight of the populace. Because this holiday included a time when roles between master and slave were reversed, a Lord of Misrule could order anyone to do anything during Saturnalia, despite his role as a slave during the rest of the year.įolklorist Sir James Frazer also compared the Saturnalia traditions, and those of the British Lord of Misrule, to the customs of the Italian Carnivale. He wrote in The Golden Bough, During the December feast of Saturnalia, a peasant or slave was appointed to represent the god Saturn himself, as the Lord of Misrule, or the King of Saturnalia. There was often a great deal of feasting and drinking going on, and in many areas, there was a complete reversal of traditional social roles, albeit a temporary one.Īlthough we usually associate the Lord of Misrule with British customs, the tradition actually has its origins in ancient Rome. In some parts of England, this custom overlapped with the Feast of Fools – with the Lord of Misrule being the Fool. Typically, the Lord of Misrule was someone of a lower social status than the homeowner and his guests, which made it acceptable for them to poke fun at him during drunken revelries. The larger the population of a home or village, the more elaborate the season’s entertainment was expected to be. This entire period was to be filled with non-stop entertainment, from balls and parties to parades and scavenger hunts. The Yuletide events at a manor house or at Court ran anywhere from a few days to the entire month of December. ![]() The tradition expanded from the homes of noble families and even into university settings such as Cambridge and Oxford, where a Lord of Misrule was designated to oversee holiday shenanigans on the entire campus. This individual was titled the Lord of Misrule, or sometimes the King of Misrule. NOTE: Much of this post is adopted from Saturnalia posts from previous years.In England, during the late medieval and early Tudor periods, through the reign of King Edward VI, a custom emerged in which the lord of a manor or other great house appointed an individual to be in charge of all of the Christmas festivities. Happy Saturnalia to all the friends, Romans, and Volokh Conspiracy readers out there! Plenty of politicians in both major parties qualify. Drinking, noise and games and dice, appointing of kings and feasting of slaves, singing naked, clapping of frenzied hands, an occasional ducking of corked faces in icy water-such are the functions over which I preside."Īs is usually the case, we have no shortage of strong candidates for the position of Lord of Misrule. In the Saturnalia, Lucian relates that "During My week the serious is barred no business allowed. Slaves were treated as equals, allowed to wear their masters' clothing, and be waited on at meal time in remembrance of an earlier golden age thought to have been ushered in by the god. Within the family, a Lord of Misrule was chosen. Slaves were permitted to use dice and did not have to work. The Encyclopedia Romana has a helpful description of Saturnalia:ĭuring the holiday, restrictions were relaxed and the social order inverted. ![]() But, by blogosphere standards, that's a truly ancient tradition, indeed! Admittedly, it's s tradition only in so far as I have put up a post about it every December 17 for the last several years. ![]() Today is Saturnalia, an ancient Roman holiday with a long tradition here at the Volokh Conspiracy. ![]()
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