Note 831 — Chapter XI · THE BEGINNING OF WINTER

Mommsen and Marquardt, vii. 245; Lipenius, 489. The gifts were often inscribed ‘anno novo faustum felix tibi.’ It is probable that the sweet cakes and the lamps like the verbenae had originally a closer connexion with the rites of the feast than that of mere omens. The emperors expected liberal strenae, and from them the custom passed into mediaeval and Renaissance courts. Queen Elizabeth received sumptuous new year gifts from her subjects. For a money payment the later empire used the term καλανδικόν or kalendaticum. Strenae survives in the French étrennes (Müller, 150, 504).