One of the Annually Earliest Ancient Winter Festivals

If your name began with an A in the Roman Empire, you might have faced an abundance of dinner invitations.

On this day, Romans and Byzantine Greeks would have celebrated Brumalia. The holiday lasted so long today would have been known as its α (alpha) day. There was supposed to have been a custom whereby one entertained friends whose name began with an alpha with a meal on this day; tomorrow, one's friends whose names begin with a β, etc. An ancient source on the customs is the 6th century Byzantine administrator Lydus' De Mensibus 4.158.

Relateds:

• Winter Holidays
• The Development of the Greek Alphabet
• Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire