Keep Saturn in Saturnalia

Merry Christmas from Mythology Worlds!

This year, my gift to all of the viewers of this website is this cartoon of mine representing Saturn, the Roman god of crops and agriculture, and the festival associated with him:

Saturnalia

The Ancient Roman precursor to Christmas

This is yet another one of my work downtime projects.

The title of this cartoon (as well as of this blog post) is a Roman-themed parody of the slogan "Keep Christ in Christmas".

That itself started as an idea back when I took weekend art classes as a teenager.

As I was working on this cartoon, I was also listening to a podcast episode on Saturnalia in preparation for the holidays...which is where the written text inside the picture came from.

Since Saturn is a god of agriculture, he carries a scythe and a bale of grain.

He also has a garland on his head a la the Ghost of Christmas Present from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.

His hair is a brownish-red and his toga is a golden yellow, representing fields of grain.

During my Italian vacation this past summer (2025 C.E.), I visited the Forum in Rome and tour guide told me and my group about Saturnalia and its customs, and I thought to myself: "That sounds like a modern-day Christmas party!"

What started as an idea inside my head way back when as a teen has finally come to fruition here on Mythology Worlds.

Happy Holidays, and Happy Gregorian New Year!