‘Every thing was out of nature and propriety’ | The Atlas | 3 January 1830Īnd this clear disruption of social norms perhaps influenced the establishment of the position of the Lord of Misrule in Medieval and Tudor times. Mummers celebrating Christmas in the north of England, according to an 1830 piece in The Atlas, would change ‘clothes between the men and the women.’ Once they were ‘dressed in each other’s habits’ they would ‘go from one neighbour’s house to another, and partake of their Christmas cheer, and make merry with them in disguise, by dancing and singing, and such like merriments.’ This notion of social reversal is something that carried into early English Christmas celebrations. Saturnalia | Britannia and Eve | 1 December 1932 Held ‘ towards the end of December…Saturnalia fell at the completion of the agricultural labour of the year and consequently every business was interrupted.’ Saturnalia was famed for the ‘complete social reversal’ that it permitted, with the rigid distinctions between masters and slaves expunged for the duration of the festival.
#LORD OF MISRULE SATURNALIA ARCHIVE#
Want to learn more? Register now and explore The Archive From Saturnalia to The Lord of MisruleĬhief amongst the precursors for Christmas was Saturnalia, a festival observed in Roman times. In this special blog, using articles taken from the rich pages of the British Newspaper Archive, we take a look at how our Christmas traditions have evolved through time, with Druid, Roman and Norse influences. Thus the “Misrule” of which Jesus was Lord was defiance of the stifling restrictions of old religion which often ran counter to justice.Our familiar Christmas customs – decorating our houses with holly and ivy, enjoying chocolate yule logs and giving presents – have, for the most part, their origins in ancient pagan practices. The idea that Jesus Christ is in fact the Lord of Misrule might seem strange at first, although I suspect that it occurred to William Blake in the past, when he made the point in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell that Jesus was all virtue yet he acted from impulse. Thus, what we have here is Jesus being put through a version of the Saturnalia ritual! The “coincidences” stack up even further when you consider that Jesus was “sacrificed” on a Cross, which in Hebrew is Tau – the letter associated (in the modern Hermetic Qabalah) with Saturn. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band. Where had I heard of Roman soldiers doing something like that before? Oh yes! Here: This got the Sumner family brain cell working. However, James Frazer (he of The Golden Bough fame) reported that there was at least one incident of Roman soldiers choosing a “Lord of Misrule,” and at the end of the Saturnalia period – sacrificing him on the altar of Saturn. In mediaeval times there was elected a “Lord of Misrule” who was the master of revels of the Saturnalia *cough* I mean Christmas period.
The pagan customs obviously survived into the Christian era. And guess what? It was being condemned as sordid and commercial as early as 400 AD! O Tempora – O mores! This is of course the ancient Roman festival that was celebrated from the 17th to the 23rd December, and involved a lot of feasting, revelry and debauchery.
He’s revelling now, but tomorrow he’ll feel slaughtered!
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