Ritual for Saturnalia
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Io Saturnalia!
We wish all Nova Romans a very happy and propitious Saturnalia, the Roman year of M. Cotta C. Petronio cos. ‡ MMDCCLXXVII a.u.c.!
You can perform your Saturnalia ritual to Father Saturnus, and to other gods you want to invoke, following the guidelines here. It is written for every Nova Roman citizen: you can use this prayer at your lararium starting from the 17 of December and during the days of Saturnalia until the the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (the Nativity of Sol Invictus or Christmas), to pray for abundance and happiness for you, your family and Nova Roma.
This prayer here is a short and simple one, for ordinary citizens of Nova Roma. We wish as many of you as possible use this in your prayer during these days, on the first days of January.
Roman prayers were generally rhythmical, composed as verse of the rhythm of thoughts, repetitions, alliterations, the number of words and accents.
If you are new to Roman rituals, please read our article about simple rituals for starters, before you proceed.
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Preparations to the Saturnalia ritual
Clean your body (you can use the prayer for ablution) and approach the altar Graeco ritu, with your head uncovered with toga, or possibly covered with a pileus or a wreath.
Praefatio
This is the "preface" prayer before the main prayer. The section of praefatio may be left out of the ritual if you want to perform a shorter, less formal ceremony. But it is always pious and propitious to use the longer version.
Invocation of Saturnus
After these words, burn incense.
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Closing of the praefatio for Saturnus
In this section, if you are male, use the variant "precatus" (I, the man, have prayed), if you are female, say "precata" (I, the woman, have prayed). Offer wine after these words:
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Sacrificium to Saturnus with the main prayer
You could have skipped the previous parts, but this is obligatory. After chanting these words, offer wine and incense:
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Piaculum
In this part, you expiate your accidental mistakes, even those, too, which you did not know of. Sacrifice wine:
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