In ancient Roman religion, holidays were celebrated to worship and celebrate a certain god or divine event, and consisted of religious observances and festival traditions, usually with a large feast, and often featuring games (ludi). The most important festivals were the Saturnalia, the Consualia, the Lupercalia and the rites of the Bona Dea. Among the most useful sources for Ancient Roman holidays is Ovid's Fasti, a poem that documents in detail the festivals of January to June at the time of Augustus. Festivals held annually were part of the Roman calendar.
Festivals were also held in ancient Rome in response to particular events, or for a particular purpose such as to assuage or to honour the gods. For example, Livy reports that following the Roman destruction of Alba Longa in the 7th century BC, and the removal of the Alban populace to Rome, it was reported to have rained stones on the Mons Albanus. A Roman deputation was sent to investigate the report, and a further shower of stones was witnessed. The Romans took this to be a sign of the displeasure of the Alban gods, the worship of whom had been abandoned with the evacuation of Alba Longa. Livy goes on to say that the Romans instituted a public festival of nine days, at the instigation either of a 'heavenly voice' heard on the Mons Albanus, or of the haruspices. Livy also says that it became the longstanding practice in Rome that whenever a shower of stones was reported, a festival of nine days would be ordered in response.[1]
By the outset of the nineteenth century and particularly in response to the carnage of the latter years of the French revolution, the term Roman holiday had taken on sinister aspects, implying an event that occasions enjoyment or profit at the expense, or derived from the suffering, of others, as in this passage from Childe Harold's Pilgramage (1812–18) by George Gordon, Lord Byron:
"There were his young barbarians all at play,/There was their Dacian mother—he their sire,/Butchered to make a Roman holiday."[2]
The list of annual Roman festivals that follows below is organized by date. Some of these festivals were instituted in different eras. When possible, the initial date is stated.
[edit] Ianuarius
- January 1, Kalends Ianuarius
- January 2, Compitalia
- January 9, the first Agonalia, in honor of the god Janus, after whom the month January is named and to whom the Romans prayed for advice.
- January 11 and January 15, Carmentalia
- January 24 to January 26, Sementivae (in the country called Paganalia)
[edit] Februarius
- February 9, Apollo festival
- February 13 to 22, Parentalia, in honour of the ancestors
- February 13 to 15, Lupercalia, in honour of Faunus
- February 17, Quirinalia, in honour of Quirinus
- February 21, Feralia
- February 23, Terminalia, in honour of Terminus
- February 27, First Equirria
[edit] Martius
- March 1:
- March 14, Second Equirria
- March 15 and 16, Bacchanalia, in honour of Bacchus
- March 17, Agonalia in honour of Mars
- March 19 to 23, Quinquatria, in honour of Minerva
- March 21 to 24, rituals of the Salii to mark the start of the campaigning season
- March 23, Tubilustrium, in honor of Mars
- March 30, Festival of Salus
[edit] Aprilis
- April 1, Veneralia, in honour of Venus
- April 4 to 10, Ludi Megalenses/Megalesia, in honor of Cybele (since 191 BC, brought to Rome in 203 BC)
- April 12 to 19, Ludi Cereales, games in honour of Cerealia (since 202 BC)
- April 15, Fordicidia, in honour of Tellus
- April 21, Parilia, in honour of Pales
- April 23, Vinalia urbana, in honour of Venus and the previous year's wine harvest
- April 25, Robigalia, in honour of Robigus, with foot races
- April 28 to May 1, Ludi Florales (Floralia), games in honour of Flora
[edit] Iunius
[edit] Iulius
- July 5, Poplifugia, festival in honour of Jupiter
- July 6 to 13, Ludi Apollinares, games in honour of Apollo (since 208 BC)
- July 7, Nonae Caprotinae Juno; also the sacerdotes publici sacrificed to Consus
- July 9, Caprotinia
- July 18, day of bad omens: defeat in Allia (390 BC) that led to the sack of Rome by the Gauls
- July 19, Lucaria
- July 23, Neptunalia held in honour of Neptune
- July 25, Furrinalia held in honour of Furrina.
[edit] Augustus
- August 10, Opalia in honour of Ops
- August 13, Vertumnalia in honour of Vertumnus
- August 13, Nemoralia, the festival of Torches, in honor of Diana
- August 17, Portunalia in honour of Portunes
- August 19, Vinalia Rustica in honour of Venus, commemorating the founding of the oldest known temple to her, on the Esquiline Hill, in 293 BC
- August 21, Consualia, games and races in honour of Consus
- August 23, Vulcanalia in honour of Vulcan
- August 24, one of 3 days on which the mundus was opened
- August 25, Opiconsivia in honour of Ops
- August 27, Volturnalia in honour of Volturnus
- August 28, Festival of Sol in honor of the sun god Sol
[edit] September
[edit] October
- October 4, Ieiunium Cereris, Fast of Ceres, instituted in 191 BC; at that time that date fell in late spring
- October 5, one of 3 days on which the mundus is opened
- October 6, day of bad omens: anniversary of the battle of Arausio (105 BC)
- October 11, Meditrinalia in honour of Meditrina
- October 13, Fontinalia, dedicated to Fontus [3]
- October 15, Equirria, the "equus October" sacrificed to Mars in the Campus Martius
- October 19, Armilustrium in honour of Mars
[edit] November
[edit] December
- December 4, Bona Dea rites, exclusive to women
- December 5, Faunalia in honour of Faunus
- December 11, Agonalia for Sol Indiges ; Septimontium
- December 15, Consualia in honour of Consus
- December 17, Saturnalia in honour of Saturn
- December 18, Eponalia in honour of Epona
- December 19, Opalia in honour of Ops
- December 21, Divalia in honour of Angerona
- December 23, Larentalia in honour of Larenta
- December 25, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, festival of Sol, the invincible sun god.
- December 25, Brumalia
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:31
- ^ "Cruelty". The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying, and Quotation, 2nd edition. Susan Ratcliffe, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002,109-110.
- ^ Fowler, William Warde (1899). The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic. Google Book Search: MacMillan and Co. p. 240.
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