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Christmas Pages

Resources for Classics Departments in the Christmas season.

Index Page

Christmas Index Page
Latin Carols
Christmas Readings in Latin
Making Latin Christmas cards
The Saturnalia

The approach of Christmas gives opportunities to use Latin in a different way. The language of the Christian Church was not very different from classical Latin. It was probably nearer to the language spoken by ordinary citizens of the Roman Empire than was the language written by Cicero or Tacitus. It is certainly easier to understand.

The Latin version of the Bible, The Vulgate, was written by St. Jerome in the last quarter of the fourth century. Rome had not yet been sacked by Alaric the Goth. The Latin Bible is part of the literature of the Roman Empire, unusual in that it was written not for a rich and highly educated elite, but for everyone. Jerome's version of the Christmas story as told by St Luke will not teach our students any bad grammar. Some idioms may reflect a Hebrew original, but they are easy to understand. It would be easy to make a simple Latin nativity play from St Luke's narrative as an alternative to reading the text.

Latin carols use the language of the Vulgate. If there is an opportunity to teach the whole school to sing in Latin for a carol service, that is all to the good. Students may be surprised to learn that 'Adeste fideles' is the original and 'O come all ye faithful' merely a translation. Macaronic carols, part Latin, part English (or German), could be a gentle way in to the singing and understanding of a few Latin phrases: Insist on 'Gloria in excelsis Deo' rather than 'Come and worship ...' as the refrain to 'Ding dong merrily on high.' It is easier to sing, for one thing! 'In dulci iubilo' rather than 'Good Christian men rejoice', please, or any politically correct variant.

For the study of Roman religion and Roman society, the Saturnalia offers a chance for lighthearted participation. The learned articles reproduced on this site suggest a number of harmless end-of-term activities.

• A student could dress as the teacher and take part of the class, inspired by the exchange of roles between masters and slaves at Saturnalia. Letting a pupil take the master's place was a favourite strategem of ARLT founder Rouse.
• There would be no harm in all the class wearing the pilleus, the cap of liberty, as slaves did at Saturnalia, and as a sign that they will soon be free of school. It gives the chance to revise the methods by which a master could free his slave.
• Freedom of speech was given to slaves during Saturnalia. If the teacher thought it helpful, and can cope with the results, the class could be invited to comment, freely and with no come-back, on the Latin lessons. The teacher could read part of Horace Satire 2.7 as an example of this freedom of speech.

For those planning to read St Luke's story of the Nativity in Greek, here is a word list (pdf): Word list