Festivals and holidays

From Rome

Romans loved games and festivals. They had over 130 holidays, which was probably why everyday of the year they were either preparing or enjoying a celebration. Most Roman festivals honored a god. Many of the Roman holidays are still alive today such as Valentines Day and May Day. Many of our holidays you could say were invented by the Romans.

Link to description of Roman Festivals and Holidays

1 Adonia
2 Anna Parenna
3 Floralia
4 Saturnalia
5 Armilustrium
6 Lemuria
7 Lupercalia
8 References

Adonia

Celebrated: July

During the festival of Adonia, the female members would go onto the roof of the house and plant the "Garden of Adonis," which contained fast-growing plants. The women would tend the gardens for eight days and then leave them. The women would then mourn for the dead plants. Another part of the festival was making effigies of Adonis and puttng them in coffins.

Anna Parenna

Celebrated: March 15

Anna Parenna was the "goddess of the returning year." The festival was celebrated on the first day of the ancient new year. Roman families would go across the Tiber River and go to Entruria. There they would have picnics in tents or huts made of branches. For more on Roman foods see the food page. The women and the men would try to drink as much alcohol as they could. The Romans believed that every cup of alcohol you could drink signified one year of your life. Afterwards, the Romans would wander back to their homes

Floralia

Celebrated: April 28-May 3

Floralia is simialr to May Day, and honors Flora, goddess of flowers and spring. Legend says that Romulus started it in 753 BC, but it was probably created in 238 BC. Games took place and the audience was "showered with beans and lupines [1]." Lupines are plants with edible seeds. Animals were released into the country, and women would wear colorful clothing and flowers in their hair.

Saturnalia

(Vocabulary Word!) Link to Definitions

Celebrated: December 17-23, at the end of the harvest

Saturnalia was a feast held to honor Saturn, the god of seeds and sowing. This festival was held anually in December. During the celebration normal ways of society were put aside and all people could join in activities. Saturnalia was also a celebration to visit friends, family and offer presents to one another. All of the Roman people cheered in a chorus of "lo Saturnalia! lo bona Saturnalia!" Meaning, "Hurrah for Saturnalia! Hurrah, good Saturnalia!" Another custom during this time was greatly appreciated by the slaves. The slaves were given a feast by their masters to recognize that under the reign Saturn all men were equals. " Rich or poor, whoever he is, he boasts that he shares the table of the emporer." - Writing of the feast of Saturn

Armilustrium

(Vocabulary Word!) Link to Definition

Celebrated on the 19 of October in Rome on Aventine hill.

This is a festival were people honor Mars the god of war. On this day people hold a possession involving people having torches and sacrificial animals. People had also ritually purified weapons of the soldiers and then stored them for the winter.

Lemuria

Celebrated: May 9, 11, 13

Lemuria is a private sequence of rites in which the father of the household wakes up at midnight "wearing clothes without knots" and washes his hands with pure water. He then walks through the house, not looking behind him and spitting black beans around while repeating a prayer nine times. he washes his hands again and uses brass instruments to make noise. This ceremony was meant to ward off the Lemures, the spirits of the dead. The Lemurs were said to collect the beans instead of the souls of the house's inhabitants. The loud noise from the instruments would then scare them away. At the end of the ceremony, the father should say a chant nine times and then look behind to make sure that the Lemurs were gone.

Lupercalia

Celebrated on the 15 of February

The Romans had honored love and had decided to celebrate a festival named Lupercalia. This festival was celebrated in honor of the pastoral god of the early Italians named Lupercus. It was celebrated in Rome at the cave of Lupercal on Palatine Hill. This was a day were people chose their future marriage partners. In this ceremony, two sheep were sacrificed and the blood was smeared on the foreheads of two youths, and then wiped on wool dipped in milk.