The _Saturnalia_, so far as the religious feast of Saturn was concerned, took place on December 17. Augustus, however, added two days to the _feriae iudiciariae_, during which the law-courts were shut, and popular usage extended the festival to seven. Amongst the customs practised was that of the _sigillariorum celebritas_, a kind of fair, at which the _sigillaria_, little clay dolls or _oscilla_, were bought and given as presents. Originally, perhaps, these _oscilla_ were like some of our feasten cakes, figures of dough. Candles (_cerei_ or _candelae_) appear also to have been given. On the second and third days it was customary to bathe in the early morning[824]. But the chief characteristic of the feast was the licence allowed to the lower classes, to freedmen and to slaves. During the _libertas Decembris_ both moral and social restraints were thrown off[825]. Masters made merry with their servants, and consented for the time to be on a footing of strict equality with them[826]. A _rex Saturnalitius_, chosen by lot, led the revels, and was entitled to claim obedience for the most ludicrous commands[827]. The similarity of the _Saturnalia_ to the folk-feasts of western Europe will be at once apparent. The name _Saturnus_ seems to point to a ploughing and sowing festival, although how such a festival came to be held in mid-December must be matter of conjecture[828]. The _Kalends_, on the other hand, are clearly a New Year festival. They began on January 1, with the solemn induction of the new consuls into office. As in the case of the _Saturnalia_, the _feriae_ lasted for more than one day, covering at least a _triduum_. The third day was the day of _vota_ or solemn wishes of prosperity for the New Year to the emperor. The houses were decked with lights and greenery, and once more the masters drank and played dice with their slaves. The resemblance in this respect between the _Kalends_ and the _Saturnalia_ was recognized by a myth which told how when Saturn came bringing the gifts of civilization to Italy he was hospitably received by Janus, who then reigned in the land[829]. Another Kalends custom, the knowledge of which we owe to the denunciations of the Fathers, was the parading of the city by bands of revellers dressed in women’s clothes or in the skins of animals. And, finally, a series of superstitious observances testified to the belief that the events of the first day of the year were ominous for those of the year itself. A table loaded all night long with viands was to ensure abundance of food; such necessaries of life as iron and fire must not be given or lent out of the house, lest the future supply of them should fail. To this order of ideas belonged, ultimately at least, if not originally, the central feature of the whole feast, the _strenae_ or presents so freely exchanged between all classes of society on the Kalends. Once, so tradition had it, the _strenae_ were