Christmas Traditions and Gift Ideas

The Saturnalia of ancient Rome was a time to feast, much as Christmas is in Italy today. The feasts, the games, the gift giving, the music, and the religious rituals are all very much part of the December festival season in modern Rome, much as they were in antiquity. This has not changed in over two thousand years.

Modern Ritual: Foods For Saturnalia

Here are some traditional Saturnalia recipes prepared by the women of ancient Rome. Enjoy them this festival season.

Hon Eyed Dates (serves 10)

“Pit the dates and stuff them with walnuts or even pine nuts …. Roll them in a little salt and fry them with honey. Serve.”

• 1 pound dried dates
• Walnuts, 1 for each date
• Salt, as needed
• Honey, as needed

Use good-quality dates (they should not be sticky and the skins should not come off easily). Pit them by making a cut on one side. Fill each cavity with a walnut. Roll them lightly in salt and cook them in honey in a skillet until they are caramelized. As soon as the dates are carmelized, put them on a lightly oiled plate to prevent sticking. Serve.

Globi

• 8 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 ½ cup semolina flour
• 1 large egg
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Mix ricotta with the semolina in a medium-sized bowl. Beat the egg and stir into the mixture. Add salt and mix well.

Pour enough oil in a pan to cover the Globi. about an inch, and heat the oil.

Drop the dough in teaspoonfuls into the heated oil, and fry until brown. Remove and drain well on a paper towel. Dip in honey and serve. Globi can also be dipped in salsa or other sauces.

December’s rituals bring promise. For Christians it is the promise of salvation and a better life with the birth of the Christ Child. For the pagan Romans, it was the promise of the Golden Age and the Rule of Saturn. It is the promise of a spiritual life, a life blessed and in accord with the deities.

Saturn harkens back to the Golden Age, an age of piety. It is for this age we must now hope. At the millennium, we begin the New Order of the Ages. For spiritual guidance, we can learn from the gods and goddess the ancient practices. As Saturn asks, “Who would bring incense to my smoking altars?”

The first age was golden when authority was not needed. Men and women revered justice and virtue. They kept faith.

In 1925, the Farm and Ranch ‘Review had a contest to find out which readers could best describe how to make their own Christmas gifts. One of the winners, identified only as m.w., explained how an early winter had prevented her family from finishing the harvest, so money was in short supply. She presented the following suggestions for making C9hnstmas gifts.

With preparations for Christmas now only a matter of weeks away, the busy housekeeper turns her mind to gifts, which, this year, must of necessity be inexpensive, with so much of the grain unthreshed.

For making dainty and useful gifts, nothing will come in handier than sacks. Flour, sugar, cereal and salt sacks can all be sterilized. In the first place, to wash out the lettering, use Naptha soap and cold water. Afterwards, wash and iron like ordinary linens, and you have material for a surprising number of gifts.

A beautiful tablecloth can be made from four squares, put together with strips of colored cotton. Have the joining sections double so that all seams are inside. Put a double fold of the same material around the outer edges and both sides of the cloth will be the same. Any desired shade may be used. Delft blue is very pretty and durable.

A breakfast or tea cloth can be made from one square, blanket stitched around in red, blue or black, with a small pattern on one or more corners. A more elaborate cloth can be made with crocheted edge and four or six serviettes with the same edge to match.

Perhaps no tea towel gives more worthwhile service than the one made from a flour sack. For gifts, they can be embroidered in simple stitch with such patterns as cup and saucer, knife and spoon, glass or pitcher.

Hot dish holders are always acceptable. Small squares interlined with clean, soft, worn cloth, and stitched from corner to corner, or in squares, make very pretty holders. Bind or blanket stitch the edges, and put a ring, loop or eyelet in one corner to hang them up by.

The large sized sugar sacks are best adapted for dusters, as they are so soft. Hemmed nicely and marked “Duster” with red or blue chain stitch, they find a ready welcome from many a friend.

For the children, the small salt sacks make pretty handkerchiefs.

Plain hem the edges and put an initial, a flower or a figure in one corner, or use a simple, easy crocheted edge. Slightly larger squares hemmed and marked “Noon House,” or “Good Eats,” make attractive cloths to place inside the school lunch basket, pail or kit.

A few other suggestions for useful articles would be children’s underwear (bloomers or slips), rompers, aprons, caps, kitchen curtains for the shorter windows, cushions, doilies, buffet or dresser covers. Any or all of these might be enhanced with facings of gingham or chambray, leftover from the summer dresses.

If the supply of sacks is limited, a few yards of unbleached cotton, at a very reasonable cost, may be used with the material on hand for these attractive, useful hand-made gifts.

‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the land
Unprepared holiday shoppers were stressed, traffic was jammed.
People were yelling and fighting everywhere
There were no parking spots to be found, it was a nightmare.

And all through the mall
Holiday shoppers were scurrying like bats out of hell
There was pushing and shoving, screams could be heard
With the last perfect gift taken, there was not a kind word.

With the glee of the Holiday Season now gone
They return home with a yearning for egg nog and rum.
In their homes no presents were found under the tree decorated with care,
And no gifts had been found in the mall anywhere.

The children were nestled and sleeping in their beds,
While visions of shopping danced in worried heads.
Tossing and turning, a thought springs out
Online shopping, there is no doubt!

The clock strikes midnight, computers are turned on
Internet browsers are opened and smiles can be found.
For what to their wondering eyes should they see
“All Season Gifts” and shopping with ease!

Exquisite holiday gift baskets for everyone is found,
And with a click of a mouse, their shopping is done!
Returning to bed with a sigh of relief (online shopping was a snap!)
They lay down for a long winter’s nap.