The Nevada chapter of the JCL has been having a busy couple months. Our holiday season at the end of December was celebrated with a Saturnalia potluck and white elephant exchange. Everybody brought their homemade dishes straight from the recipes of antiquity. Our feast was composed of savory mushrooms, delicious shrimps, questionably vinegary eggs, and delectable fruit desserts. We finished with a white elephant exchange. The celebration was a perfect way to celebrate our modern holiday while getting in touch with the foods of the past. Now that it is February, our Southern Nevada team has been knees deep in a schoolwide event to send Lupercalentines (and bonus candy) as an acknowledgement to the Lupercalia festival for Valentine's day, sending out cards designed by our very own NVJCLers to spread goodwill and reference to Roman culture on the side.
Between Saturnalia and Lupercalia, the Southern Nevada Amici Pratis (SNAP) took place on January 20, and was an absolute success. We kicked things off after registration by playing three rounds in three games of Certamen. Then we, in the typical JCL fashion, moved on with academic testing in subjects such as Roman Daily Life, Mythology, and Sight Reading. Then after three rounds of chariot racing, we did many activities, ranging from the classic chariot racing, making cards for at-risk children, clay sculpture making, mosaics, and more. In the closing ceremony, we thanked our attendees (which included plenty of new faces from incoming grades) and handed out awards for the tests and art/chariot racing competitions. Overall, it was another exciting day of NVJCL events, and we are all excited to continue this tradition for years to come. Meanwhile, this year marked the first ever Northern Nevada Amici Pini (NNAP)! While our Southern Nevada JCLers have been doing their annual SNAP, our Northern Nevada JCLers have joined the fun. Their day consisted of board games, mosaic arts and crafts, soap carving, chariot racing, street certamen rounds, and, of course, pizza. They also did a volunteering event by making cards for veterans for Meals on Wheels. This event has let them meet new members and engage in their love for the classics, and they can certainly say that they will be doing it again.