On Thursday, December 6th, students from both Jesuit and Hockaday and members of the Junior Classical League (JCL), attended the annual “Saturnalia” party in Hughes Hall.
Historically, Saturnalia refers to the mid-December Roman holiday (later replaced by Christmas) celebrating the deity Saturn.
The JCL version of Saturnalia didn’t include the celebration of Saturn, but was filled with plenty of great food, fun, and Roman games and activities.
Ms. Vanessa Jones, Jesuit’s only Latin teacher, planned the party for the JCL members. According to Ms. Jones, “JCL is an academic club for Latin students where they can compete against other schools in contests ranging from art, mythology, Roman history, the Latin language, and costumes.”
Beginning promptly at 4:30, the JCL members enjoyed pizza and desserts from CiCi’s Pizzeria. After a nice meal, Jesuit students from all Latin classes participated in a short skit explaining the origins of Saturnalia.
Junior Mauricio Narvaez said, “The skit [was] about two slaves and the master waiting for Saturnalia. On Saturnalia, the slaves are freed temporarily and are allowed to gamble in public. One of the slaves wants to gamble and win enough money to buy his freedom. The other wants to become the master of the house so that he can boss everyone around.”
Ms. Jones added that Saturnalia “was a time of celebrating, visiting friends, and gift-giving. The best part of the Saturnalia (for slaves) was the temporary reversal of roles. Masters served meals to their slaves, who were permitted the unaccustomed luxuries of leisure and gambling. Clothing was relaxed and included the peaked woolen cap that symbolized the freed slave, which looks an awful lot like Santa Claus’s peaked red hat.”
Then, a toga contest was held. Four underclassmen competed in the competition to see who could show off their ostentatious, bed-sheet togas the best. Aiden Leahy ´16 dressed as Brutus, another student as Caesar, while the other two dressed up for the fun of it.
There were two judges: junior Peter Park and the Hockaday Latin instructor. In the end, 1st place went to sophomore Alex Magee, who received a $25 gift card to Game Stop, while freshman Jack Mason, who came in 2nd place, received a copy of the novel Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.
The party came to a close with Ms. Jones beating all of her students, including the Latin instructor, Dr. Andre Stipanovic, on Guitar Hero on the Wii, which they hooked up to the Smart Board. Only Aiden was successful in beating Ms. Jones; but, unfortunately, no prizes were awarded.
All in all, Jesuit’s Saturnalia 2012 turned out to be a great success. Happy early Saturnalia and Merry Christmas to all!
For more information on the traditions of Saturnalia, follow the link below:
