Lore:Saturalia

Saturalia is a Breton celebration that heralds the New Life Festival, and is held on the 25th of Evening Star. Originally a holiday for the god of debauchery, Sanguine it has become a time of gift giving, parties, and parading. Visitors are encouraged to participate.

Among the Khajiit the Saturalia celebration and sharing of gifts is known as the "Saturalia Baan Dar gift swap". In Elinhir, the youth of the gentry give each other licentious presents during Saturalia that are intended to dare the recipients into lascivious behavior, though the giver's name is never revealed—it's up to each recipient to guess who their 'Secret Sanguine' was.

Saturalia shares many similarities to the New Life Festival. A shared tradition involves decorating evergreen trees with elaborate decorations, and are topped with a shining light ornament on its peak. Evergreen trees are chosen because they are associated with resilience and rebirth. Gift giving is another thing shared, and "giving gifts" are placed under these festive trees. Saturalia trees are used in both Saturalia and the New Life Festival. In both holidays, shades of cerulean are used as the color of clothing for these holidays.

Gallery

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  Town with Saturalia/New Life Festival decorations

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  A travelling Saturalia merchant

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  A Saturalia Tree

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  Traditional Saturalia clothing

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  Saturalia Ice Steed

Notes

• The name of the holiday is nearly identical to the ancient Roman Saturnalia, a precursor to Christmas that ran from December 17–23 on the Julian calendar and involved feasting, partying and gift-giving. There was also a loosening of certain social mores, though it fell short of outright debauchery.

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.

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