The Festival of Saturn, or Saturnalia, was the most popular in ancient Rome. Saturnus was the god of sowing or seed, and the festival celebrated agriculture. The holiday was first observed on December 17, and then was extended to a seven-day festival of merriment. It still influences the Western world's celebrations of Christmas and New Year, with those holidays' feasting, decorating and revelry.

You can read about the origins of Christmas and its observance on December 25 in Today in History. Also find out which important event in U.S. transportation history happened on this day in 1830. By searching the "Archive" of Today in History, you can learn what happened in the past for any day of the year.