50.  The Saturns
Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, follow, subscribe, and share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! The background music is called Greyleaf Willow by Blue Dot.
I’m concerned about how we left things last Musing Interruptus. I’m not sure there is much we can do regarding others' private affairs. Emphasis on affairs. Even if the affected include the -collective us-. How selfish of us to expect someone to suspend their development to satisfy our needs or our childish expectations. But it’s Santa, you might say. Who else should be that man, the one we expect so much of,  other than Santa? I, for one, feel a bit devastated. 
I’ve been considering a plan to get Santa back to his shop. Is the solution an expedited divorce? Does he want a new Mrs. Claus? Would Mariah go for it? I wonder what her endgame is. If this is just a fling, could it have come at a worse time? And what’s up with Santa just going awol on the elves? Is there anybody at the North Pole taking care of business? These questions have plagued me, and probably you, since we got the news that the big guy has been distracted from his duties. Aren’t we all entitled to change our lives? Moving away and starting over? After all, we only have one life to live. Then again, aren’t we entitled to Christmas cheer!? It’s been a long year, and for some, a very hard year. Where does Santa get off? To answer that question we need to ask a more important question. If you want to know why someone acts the way they do, you need to know where they have been, where they come from. It is possible he doesn’t know. Or! He has discovered his origins and decided to revel in his own myth. 
This is something that can happen with our creations. The nightmare is for them to have self-awareness. The monster or angel we created develops the ability to rationalize. Should the temptation to create be stifled? How far could it go?
A long time ago, in Roman times, the festival of Saturnalia was held to celebrate Saturn, the Roman god of wealth, time, dissolution, agriculture, and liberation. A week of indulgence from December 17th to the 25th. Festivities included role reversal amongst men and women, slaves, and owners. They even selected a Ruler of the events, master of disaster, who, according to one source, would be sacrificed at the end of the week to restore order. You can imagine the level of revelry and overindulgence. It's like the Purge movie. Which, by the way, I couldn’t finish watching. 
The master of disaster would call out commands impulsively to instigate chaos and absurdity (according to Wikipedia…). Can you see it?! Throw a pie in his face! Everyone jump in the pool! Oh! It's filled with Tequila! You’re welcome! Merry Saturnalia! I’m so ready to celebrate, and I nominate myself as the Grand High Empress of Debauchery!  
There was also gift giving on December 19th, toys for children, and gag gifts for the rest. This went on until year 3 or 4 after the common era and eventually fell victim of a syncretic process with Christianity that ultimately became Christmas. Again, according to Wikipedia. Continue reading