On Saturday, 6 December 2025, a thematic event dedicated to Saturnalia, the Roman festivals of the winter solstice, took place at the Mušov Visitor Centre. Visitors had the opportunity to discover what the festive season in the Roman world might have looked like nearly two thousand years ago.
The re-enactment group Pannonia presented a cuisine inspired by Apicius. Participants were able to taste meat dishes with garum fish sauce, sweet curd desserts, and spiced wine prepared according to ancient recipes. The atmosphere was further enriched by wax candle making and demonstrations of period hairstyles and jewellery.
The evening programme included two lectures: Mgr. Balázs Komoróczy, Ph.D. (Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno) focused on the Roman presence in South Moravia and presented selected related finds from the visitor centre’s exhibition. Mgr. Pavel Titz, Ph.D. (National Museum) highlighted the cultural and religious contexts of the winter solstice and its significance across different periods, from prehistory to present-day traditions.
The event offered insight into how winter celebrations were reflected in everyday life and rituals of ancient Rome, and what parallels can be found in modern concepts of the festive season.
The event is one of the outputs of the Roman Trails project, co-financed by the European Union under the Interreg Austria–Czech Republic programme.
