THE SPIRIT OF Christmas

Spiced punch, Lords of Misrule and government crackdowns: Sophia Cano traces how our festive drinking customs have evolved over the years

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‘The serious is barred; no business allowed.

Drinking, noise and games... are the functions over which I preside.’ You’d be forgiven for assuming this excerpt describes the familiar festivity of a contemporary Christmas Day. In fact, it originates from Lucian of Samosata’s satirical dialogue Saturnalia, on the customary revelry of the ancient Roman late-December festival. You could argue that not much has changed: to this day, many would say that it doesn’t truly feel like Christmas until they have a tipple in hand. Over the years, we’ve celebrated the season with drinking and festivity to varying extents. However, thanks to a hearty helping of debauchery and a few government-mandated attacks on public merriment, our journey to today’s boozy Christmas table has been anything but smooth.

Raucous roots

The ancient Roman Saturnalia festival was undoubtedly an early influence on what would eventually become Christmas as we know it today. Characterised by feasting, drinking and gift-giving, the festivities extended from 17th-23rd December. Here, social order was abandoned in favour of revelry and indulgence. One Saturnalia custom involved a coin hidden in a cake; whoever found the coin became the ‘mock king’ for the festival period, whose chief objective was to issue absurd orders and inflict maximal drunken chaos.