Io Saturnalia

On Thursday evening we were in Chester to see the annual Saturnalia parade.
A legion of Roman soldiers march into the centre of town with torches lit to ward off the evil darkness.

"Saturnalia was a popular Roman midwinter festival celebrating the god Saturn, which lasted for several days. Saturn was the god of agriculture and worship of him hopefully encouraged prosperity to come. It was a time to eat,drink and be merry and there was a tradition of tomfoolery and role reversal, where masters became servants and vice versa in a  similar way to the Lord of Misrule of later Christmas celebrations. As Chester was a major Roman centre in the UK and the residents are proud of their heritage, it is celebrated here with a torch-lit parade of Roman Centurions to the beat of a drum with dancers and entertainers as well as rites to Saturn himself".

The rows were packed with people watching the parade, but we were too late to get a good vantage point up there. As we were racing along the city walls we could hear the chanting of the parade, and I thought we were going to miss it all.

We were still by the city clock when the legion marched right underneath us.

Luckily, we managed to get really close up to the soldiers by just following them as they marched up the main street.

We were all encouraged to join in with the chanting to chase away the darkness of winter. As the winter solstice was fast approaching it couldn't come at a better time.
By this time we were freezing, and a meal in a restaurant round the corner was a great way to warm up.
It was our special little way of celebrating the last day of term, and the beginning of the Christmas holidays!