Brumalia were winter solstice festivals instituted by Romulus in honor of Liber or Bacchus (Dionysus), alongside Saturn (Cronus) and Ops (Demeter), celebrated by the Romans. It was likely a derivation of the ancient Greek Lenaia festivals dedicated to Dionysus, where excesses in wine drinking and the liberalization of customs also took place. The name comes from the Latin Brūma, meaning “winter solstice,” a modification of “breuĭma,” an archaic superlative of “breuis,” meaning “short,” signifying “the shortest day of the year.”
The Beginnings of Brumalia
Roman life during classical antiquity revolved around agriculture, hunting, herding, and the military, and the cold, short days of winter were seen as unproductive and a cessation of activity. The Brumalia were festivities during this interim season of low light and warmth. Farmers sacrificed their pigs to Saturn and Ceres; vintners sacrificed goats in honor of Bacchus (or Dionysus in the Greek world); and public officials bestowed honey, wine, and olive oil upon the priests of Ceres.
There are variations in the date; according to the German historian Theodor Mommsen, the Brumalia would begin on November 24 and end on December 25, the day of mist. Other authors say that Brumalia was celebrated twice a year, on the 12th kalends of March and the 18th kalends of September, also called hiematia.
There are stories with some evidence but doubts about their accuracy, such as the narration of the Antiochian chronographer John Malalas, born in 491. At the same time, it was based, according to him, on that of the Roman analyst Licinius Macer, who explained that its origins came from a celebration not instituted since the time of Romulus.
A celebration to mitigate the shame felt after his stepfather Faustulus offered him bread, as it was customary to only eat bread alongside a relative, and thus it became a date where everyone entertained someone outside the immediate family, being a story that attempts retroactively to give meaning to the word Brumalia, relating it to the Greek “βρομός” (bromos), meaning food. Balzamon and Tzetzes, Greek writers of the modern era, suggest that it was a Roman tradition already mixed with Dionysian festivities typical of the Greek world.
Brumalia in Eastern Rome
In the Byzantine era, the celebrations began on November 24 and lasted for a month. There was eating, drinking, and fun during the celebrations that took place at night. During this time, weather predictions were made for the remainder of the winter.
During the Roman period in the East, around the 5th century, historian Joan Laurenci (born in 490) explains in his book “De mensibus” how this celebration flourished in Constantinople, in the Eastern Roman Empire. It was called the “Festival of Cronos” (the Greek name for Saturn), starting on November 24 and lasting until the inauguration of the Saturnalia on December 17. Each of these 24 days was assigned a letter of the Greek alphabet.
During this festival, it was customary to celebrate each friend on the day corresponding to the initial letter of their name. Additionally, it was a common practice to sacrifice a pig, a custom also shared with the ancient Saturnalia. Other authors, such as Forcellini and Cumont, interchange the dates or assimilate one festival to the other, using Saturnalia and Brumalia as synonyms.
Joan Laurenci also narrates how this date was associated with “chthonic demons” (pagan deities), leading to disapproval from the Church. This may seem unusual, considering the prevailing anti-paganism, but many texts indicate that references to this non-Christian ritual persisted until the middle of the 10th century. Agathias reports, without censorship, in the year 577 how the Brumalia celebrations took place in Constantinople after an earthquake.
Additionally, according to Coricus of Gaza, Oratio XIII, the festival was celebrated in the 6th century during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, when predictions were made about the prospects for the rest of the winter. Despite the emperor’s persecution of paganism, in 521, he celebrated his first consulship with Brumalia on a lavish scale, with banquets and spectacles throughout the empire. The emperor had no issue participating in these popular rituals, as long as there were no specific pagan sacrifices or cults, given that the festival was already a secular part of the daily lives of his people and his court.
These permissive attitudes toward Christianity were not consistent over time, as they ceased to be tolerated in the following century. In the Council of Trullo held in Constantinople in 692, Canon 62 prohibits the celebration of, among other things, the Brumalia festivals. These winter solstice festivities remained popular enough to persist into the Christian era, albeit in an altered form, deviating from their original spirit and characteristics. In this way, the celebration of Christmas may have a certain origin in these festivities.
References to Brumalia
The Byzantine administrator John the Lydian (6th century) describes this feast as follows:
Romans usually divide their citizens into three [groups] and highlight those suited for warfare, those suited for agriculture, and those suited for hunting; and the winter season puts an end to these [activities]. For in it, they do not arm themselves and do not engage in agriculture due to the cold time of the year and the brevity of days—and thus, in ancient times, they called it “bruma,” which means “short day.” And Brumalia means “winter festivals”; so at this time, before the “Increasing of Light,” suspending their work, Romans greeted each other with words of good omen at night, speaking in the language of their ancestors: “Vives annos”—meaning “Many years.”
Farmers would be slaughtering pigs for the worship of Cronus and Demeter—and, therefore, even now, “pig slaughter” is observed in December. And winemakers would sacrifice goats in honor of Dionysus because the goat is the enemy of the vine; they would purify them, fill leather bags with air, and jump on them. Civil officials would also [offer as] first fruits of the harvested crop wine and olive oil, grain and honey, as well as as many [products] from trees as endured and survived—they would make bread without water and bring [all] these things to the priests of the Great Mother. And this custom is still observed even now; in November and December, before the “Increasing of Light,” they bring [these] things to the priests. For the custom of greeting [people] by name in Brumalia is quite recent; and, truth be told, they call them “Cronian festivals,” and because of this, the Church detests them. And they occur at night because Cronus is in darkness, having been sent to Tartarus by Zeus—and they mysteriously signify the grain, because it is sown in the earth and, as a result, is not visible. And this is entirely true, as already mentioned: attention to [these] things continues at night, so, ultimately, indeed, Brumalia is the festivals of underworld demons.
— De Mensibus 4.158
The celebration was so ingrained among the inhabitants of the empire that the Christian Church constantly fought against pagan customs. The Council of Trullo issued 62 canons for this purpose in 691, one of which reads:
The so-called Kalends, Vota, Brumalia, and the public gathering on the first day of March, we wish to completely eliminate from the lives of the faithful. Also, all popular women’s dances, which have the potential to cause great harm and ruin, as well as dances and rituals performed in honor of the gods, falsely called by the Greeks, whether performed by men or women, according to some ancient and foreign custom contrary to Christian life, we reject. We determine that no man should dress in women’s clothing, nor should a woman wear clothing characteristic of a man; not to wear masks of a comedic, satiric, or tragic nature; not to utter the vile name of Dionysus when pressing grapes in the winepress, and not to produce laughter when pouring wine into barrels. Ignorantly or as an act of vanity, one should not engage in what belongs to devilish allurements. Therefore, those who henceforth, knowing this, dare to do anything from the aforementioned, if they are clerics, we command to be expelled from the sacred order. If they are laypeople, they are to be excluded from the communion of the church.
14th-century Byzantine-Greek monk Matthew Blastares.
