CRONIE. – Festivals in honor of Cronus at which social distinctions were abolished. We know of them in Attica and Thebes, where there was a musical contest, and in Rhodes, where a man was sacrificed. The Romans identified them with the Saturnalia. Some regard them as harvest festivals, while others deny this; for still others, it was a festival during which the customs and laws in force under a king were abolished, after which he was killed and replaced by another who was more robust, but there is no trace of this in Greece. The festival seems to be ancient. Similar festivals are also found for other divinities.
BIBL.: A. Lang, Magic and Religion, Londra 1901, p. 82 ff.; M. Nilsson, Griechische Feste, Lipsia 1906, p. 35 ff.; J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, 3rd ed., XI, Londra 1913, p. 306 ff.; M. Nilsson, Gesch. der Griech. Religion, I, Monaco 1941, p. 481 ff.