{"id":6532,"date":"2026-11-10T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T08:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=6532"},"modified":"2026-11-10T09:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T08:40:00","slug":"vives-annos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=6532","title":{"rendered":"Vives Annos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s November 10th<\/sup> and the weather looks like Sylvia Plath\u2019s psyche. In fact, it has pretty much since November 1st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes the months don\u2019t get the memos: summer lasts until deep September, a snowstorm besmirches a late-March picnic. But this year, everyone was right on schedule. Summer stopped on September 1st<\/sup>, August\u2019s mugginess disappeared and the air went cool; and every day in October could have been a calendar picture for October, with brilliant blue skies and changing leaves. Likewise, on November 1st<\/sup> the sky and sun gave the world the finger, the temps dropped, and it\u2019s been rainy and dreary days since. November got the memo.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, this weather would be just fine if I could spend my days on the couch reading British mystery books and eating ginger snaps. But alas, I am required to be a working member of society. And like everyone else, I\u2019m (not so) quietly bemoaning the fact that in terms of November, there\u2019s no real end in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh sure, there\u2019s Thanksgiving and here in the Czech Republic you\u2019ve got a state holiday next week. But we all know the real timeout doesn\u2019t come until December. Late December. What to do until then? We look to the Romans. Whenever things are rough, it\u2019s great to look back at how other people have dealt with similar times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to dealing with a gloomy month, I can find no better than the Romans. The Romans adapted to November the way my dog adapts to a warmer spot in the bed after I get out of it. First, they accommodated their activities to fit the month. Sure, there was ploughing and sowing; servants were still tortured; and politicians were assassinated by their friends, but overall things slowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also observed shortened hours during November \u2013 meaning an hour was shorter. The Roman day was divided into two twelve-hour parts: day and night. During summer, a Roman hour was about 75-minutes long. But since winter saw a shorter day, the Romans adjusted their hour to be about 45-minutes long. The winter\u2019s evening hours were expanded to make up for the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If ever a past directive needed modern implementation it\u2019s that one. So in winter, my classes are cut by 15 minutes? And the night is left the same length so I can get home, read, eat, and sleep more? Yes. Please.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans also turned to pleasure activities like going to the baths, exercising indoors, feasting, and probably some other stuff that modern society would frown upon. It was within this that we find two November activities that Romans enjoyed during this cold and gloomy month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Ludi Plebeii (the Plebian Games) was two weeks of entertainment, feasting, spectacle, and celebrating from November 4\u201317.  They honored Jupiter, who was the Romans\u2019 main god. The Epulum Iovis was a banquet in his honor. There were chariot races and other sporting events. Not only did it provide a pause from the year, but it was for the plebes \u2013 the ordinary people of Rome. Like us, but in our respective cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there was Brumalia, the festival of the coming winter. This festival took place from November 24\u2013December 17. Unlike the Plebian Games, which were to honor Jupiter and a civic ordnance, Brumalia was in place to celebrate upcoming winter. This was a period of feasting and social engagements that directly celebrated the shorter days of winter. How? By having fun and drinking and dancing. In later times, Romans would greet each other during Brumalia with \u2018vives annos\u2019 or live for years<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a selfish person who \u2013 like many \u2013 think that my problems are worse than anyone else\u2019s. and so it\u2019s sometimes hard for me to remember that I have a seriously cushy and pleasant life. I live in an apartment with good heat, I have enough food to eat well. If I get sick, I go to my doctor, who yells at me about my lifestyle, but then hands over a prescription that fixes things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Romans didn\u2019t. Despite all of the romanticizing we do about Rome, life there was still very hard when compared to today. Their apartments collapsed or caught fire regularly. They were poisoned by lead pipes. Plagues and epidemics were a common threat and tooth pain was a daily devil. People suffered through life with fleas, worms, parasites, and dry cleaners who used urine in their cleaning solutions. There was also corruption that made Donald Trump look like Jimmy Carter, and the occasional civil war, which if you were on the wrong side of could end with your very violent end. And, to boot, there was always a chance of the city being stormed by barbarians.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And through it all, they were able to compartmentalize and enjoy the little joys that came with the year, no matter the weather or shortness of the day. So if they can do that, I can deal with waking up in the dark, walking to the bus in the rain, and slipping on some wet leaves. But I will take a leaf out of their book and enjoy being inside more, reading, and cozying up. I\u2019ll have some good food and drink . . . and then a tight belt. Nevertheless, I suggest you all do the same. And in the meantime, vives annos<\/em>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s November 10th and the weather looks like Sylvia Plath\u2019s psyche. In fact, it has pretty much since November 1st. Sometimes the months don\u2019t get the memos: summer lasts until deep September, a snowstorm besmirches a late-March picnic. But this year, everyone was right on schedule. Summer stopped on September 1st, August\u2019s mugginess disappeared and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EvEu-1Hm","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/damiengaleone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1280px-Circus_Flaminius_by_Giacomo_Lauro_5798907.jpg?fit=1280%2C980&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6534,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6532\/revisions\/6534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}