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Lucian, an ancient Greek writer, historian, poet, satirist, in a dialogue of his entitled ‘Saturnalia’ depicts and describes the festival and what it enfolded.
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Selecting a ‘victim’ from each Roman community was a thing of common conduct during the period, which they forced to indulge in all horned sides of sadistic acts. Also, it is believed, the prime Roman authorities chose an enemy of the people whom they represented as ‘Lord of misrule’, all but as a ‘festival’. The period brought with it rules which spoke up to break rules – Roman courts remained closed and law dictated ‘no penalty’ for any crime, from property damage to murders, from brutality and inhumane behaviour to destruction, as found in historical texts. Saturnalia- a festival popular in ancient Rome was observed to give honour to their deity ‘Saturn’, whom Romans acknowledged with Greek God – Cronus.Ī week stretching from December 17 th to December the 25 th, Saturnalia could be identified with downright lawlessness and havoc round the streets. THE STORY OF SATURNALIA AND THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTMAS What if I tell you-Christmas, has no definite roots with Christianity, and no branches to Jesus of course? I apologise in advance for having to prick your balloon of Christmas adore, I too got that burst years back. However, now I do know certain things I wish I had known before (not that those are bad memories). And that, I definitely got 10 times more excited with Christmas round the corner than Ami (my Christian friend). As a child, I never knew what Christmas had special bond with my Christian friends, I tried getting the best gifts from Santa and I had a thing for Santa, maybe that I missed my grandfather whom I never saw. I remember, for good, in my ones unit age, I studied in a purely, entirely Christian-population school, back in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. With Christmas coming and leaving us with mouth still packed of yummy trifles, candy canes, Christmas puddings, eggnog, fruitcake, mashed potatoes, butter tarts, and…(Well, those are my personal favourites, you could name yours), a new bond, that there is a day, when amidst those high-end fights, wars and scuffles we are in, we come as ‘A’ human race. Black Santa- is what a new trend is helping little or more towards making the racists suffer in their own spun web. And I cannot not mention, Racism-DIES (not that racists stop doing what they do-racism). Not personally, but that’s what this whole world does. Christmas- a festival when globe denies its differentiating patterns and comes as one plain blanket of togetherness, as all wait for the wishes on their lists to come true. A mark to say- winter is finally here in its genuine stature and that a new year is about to commence. Davis has won many literary awards, and was honorary president of the Classical Association from 1997 to 1998.Christmas-the time, you and me, the whole globe is dipped with white and red combinations, sometimes green too. Rebels and Traitors, set in the period of the English Civil War, was published in September 2009. A further nineteen Falco novels and Falco: The Official Companion have followed, as well as The Course of Honour, which was finally published in 1998. She tried again, and her first novel featuring the Roman "detective", Marcus Didius Falco, The Silver Pigs, set in the same time period and published in 1989, was the start of her runaway success as a writer of historical whodunnits. Her interest in history and archaeology led to her writing a historical novel about Vespasian and his lover Antonia Caenis ( The Course of Honour), for which she couldn't find a publisher. She left the civil service after 13 years, and when a romantic novel she had written was runner up for the 1985 Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize, she decided to become a writer, writing at first romantic serials for the UK women's magazine Woman's Realm.
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Having taken a degree in English literature at Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall), she became a civil servant. Lindsey Davis, historical novelist, was born in Birmingham, England in 1949.