Australian Form of Revelry Crossword Clue

Australian form of revelry crossword clue. A crusader prize crossword question in Daily Express on Tueday, 4 Jul 2017. 10 letters.

The answer: SATURNALIA

Saturnalia is the Roman festival honoring Saturnus, who introduced agriculture and the arts of civilized life. It was the season when agricultural work was completed; a sort of joyous Thanksgiving-type holiday of relaxation and merriment. During Saturnalia, businesses, courts and schools were closed.

In Roman mythology, Saturn was an agricultural deity who was said to have reigned over the world in the Golden Age, when humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labor in a state of innocence. The revelries of Saturnalia were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost mythical age, not all of them desirable. The Greek equivalent was the Kronia.