Thanks, Nerd. A name and a title are always a good place to start, and I have resolved to spend more time in my public library in the coming year (Even if I don't turn it into a formal "Resolution")

Thank you, Kat.

It was basically something we did for just one year: ours was a small private school, and the Latin teacher taught all the grades from sixth to twelfth. So one year, she got all the classes together and got permission for an afternoon-long party where we got to practice our Latin. One of the senior students played the role of the priest, and led the procession of bringing in the tree, and said an invocation. Then, th most senior of the students dressed up as Saturn (with scythe, and false beard, and long yellow robes, and his hands bound in paper shackles), and came in and gave a speach he'd written (In Latin) about how we should all live in peace with each other. Then the student playing the priest broke the chains and "Saturn" went around the room handing out small cakes shaped like himself (Okay, so honey cakes with Saturn's image were not available, so the teacher had bought a packet of "Santa" cookies, instead ;-)).

The younger students put on skits of Roman myths, and we ate Italian food potluck lunch and sang Christmas carols that had been translated into Latin. Then it was time to get on the buses to go home. It was a good day.

(Oh, and the "Io" in Io, Saturnalia! is pronounced "Yo!")