As i've written about before, the winter date of Christmas is strongly influenced by the Roman holiday Saturnalia, which occurred on Dec. 17. Saturnalia was celebrated with gift-giving, eating and a "carnival atomsphere that overturned Roman social norms," to quote Wikipedia.
Mary Beard, in the character of a Roman priestess, has a 'look back' at this year's Saturnalia. This is pretty much the lecture style I aspire to in introductory classes :) Read her blog entry about the experience here.
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