16 minute read
Imbolc, Parentalia
Celebrations
Parentalia
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Shared By: High Priestess, Lady Gloriana
The ancient Romans had a festival for just about everything, and honoring your family’s dead was no exception. The Parentalia festival was celebrated each year for a week, beginning on February 13. Originating in Etruscan practice, the celebration included private rituals held in the home to honor the ancestors, followed by a public festival.
The Parentalia was, unlike many other Roman celebrations, often a time of quiet, personal reflection rather than boisterous merrymaking. Families often gathered together, visited the ancestral tombs of their forebears, and offered libations to the dead. Sometimes offerings of bread and wine were left for the deceased kinfolk, and if a family had a household deity, a small sacrifice might be made to them as well. During the Parentalia, which traditionally lasted seven days (although some sources place it at eight or nine), Romans suspended much of their regular businesses. Weddings were put on hold during that time, temples shut their doors to the public, and politicians and lawmakers postponed all business during the Parentalia.
On the final day of Parentalia, a public feast called the Feralia was held. Although little is known about the specific rituals of Feralia, Ovid writes:
Now ghostly spirits and the entombed dead wander, Now the shadow feeds on the nourishment that’s offered. But it only lasts till there are no more days in the month Than the feet that my metres possess. This day they call the Feralia because they bear Offerings to the dead: the last day to propitiate the shades. The Feralia was also a time to celebrate the god Jupiter, in his aspect as Iuppiter Feretrius, the subduer of enemies and oath-breakers.
February 2, Februalia: The Roman Februalia festival was a period of sacrifice and atonement, invovling offerings to the gods, prayer, and sacrifices.
Celebrations
Lupercalia
Shared By: High Priestess, Lady Gloriana
Lupercalia is one of the most ancient of the Roman holidays (one of the feriae listed on ancient calendars from even before the time Julius Caesar reformed the calendar). It is familiar to us today for two main reasons:
It is associated with Valentine’s Day. It is the setting for Caesar’s refusal of the crown that was made immortal by Shakespeare, in his Julius Caesar. This is important in two ways: the association of Julius Caesar and the Lupercalia gives us some insight into the final months of Caesar’s life as well as a look at the Roman holiday.
The name of the Lupercalia was talked about a lot in the wake of the 2007 discovery of the legendary Lupercal cave where, supposedly, the twins Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf. The Lupercalia may be the longestlasting of the Roman pagan festivals. Some modern Christian festivals, like Christmas and Easter, took on elements of earlier pagan religions, but they are not essentially Roman, pagan holidays.
Lupercalia may have started at the time of the founding of Rome (traditionally 753 B.C.) or even before. It ended about 1200 years later, at the end of the 5th century A.D., at least in the West, although it continued in the East for another few centuries. There may be many reasons why Lupercalia lasted so long, but most important must have been its wide appeal.
Why Lupercalia is Associated With Valentine’s Day If all you know about Lupercalia is that it was the background for Mark Antony to offer the crown to Caesar 3 times in Act I of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, you probably wouldn’t guess that Lupercalia was associated with Valentine’s Day.
Although scholars have argued that Shakespeare did not intend to portray Lupercalia as the day before the assassination, it sure sounds that way. Cicero points to the danger to the Republic that Caesar presented on this Lupercalia, a danger the assassins addressed on that Ides.
Celebrations
Lupercalia Continued
Chronologically, Lupercalia was a full month before the Ides of March. Lupercalia was February 15 or February 13-15, a period either proximate to or covering modern Valentine’s Day.
History of Lupercalia
Lupercalia conventionally starts with the founding of Rome, but maybe a more ancient import, coming from Greek Arcadia and honoring Lycaean Pan, the Roman Inuus or Faunus. [Lycaean is a word connected with the Greek for ‘wolf’ as seen in the term lycanthropy for ‘werewolf’.]
Agnes Kirsopp Michaels says Lupercalia only goes back to the 5th century B.C. Tradition has the legendary twin brothers Romulus and Remus establishing the Lupercalia with 2 gentes, one for each brother. Each gens contributed members to the priestly college that performed the ceremonies, with Jupiter’s priest, the flamen dialis, in charge, from at least the time of Augustus. Sodales Luperci and the priests were known as Luperci. The original 2 gentes were the Fabii, on behalf of Remus, and the Quinctilii, for Romulus.
Anecdotally, the Fabii were almost annihilated, in 479. at Cremera (Veientine Wars) and the most famous member of the Quinctilii has the distinction of being the Roman leader at the disastrous battle at Teutoberg Forest. Later, Julius Caesar made a short-lived addition to the gentes who could serve as Luperci, the Julii. When Mark Antony ran as a Luperci in 44 B.C., it was the first time the Luperci Juliani had appeared at the Lupercalia and Antony was their leader.
By September of the same year, Antony was complaining that the new group had been disbanded. Although originally the Luperci had to be aristocrats, the Sodales Luperci came to include equestrians, and then, the lower classes.
Etymologically, Luperci, Lupercalia, and Lupercal all relate to the Latin for ‘wolf’ lupus, as do various Latin words connected with brothels. The Latin for she-wolf was slang for prostitute. The legends say that Romulus and Remus were nursed by a she-wolf in the Lupercal. Servius, a 4th-century pagan commentator on Vergil, says that it was in the Lupercal that Mars ravished and impregnated the twins’ mother.
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Lupercalia Continued
The Performance
The cavorting Sodales Luperci performed an annual purification of the city in the month for purification, February. Since early in Roman history March was the start of the New Year, the period of February was a time to get rid of the old and prepare for the new.
There were two stages to the events of the Lupercalia: The first was at the site where the twins Romulus and Remus were said to have been found being suckled by the she-wolf.
This is the Lupercal. There, priests sacrificed a goat and a dog whose blood they smeared on the foreheads of the young men who would soon go prancing naked around the Palatine (or sacred way) -- aka the Luperci. The hide of the sacrificial animals was cut into strips for use as lashes by the Luperci after the necessary feasts and drinking. Following the feast, the second stage began, with the Luperci running around naked, joking, and hitting women with their goatskin thongs. Naked or scantily-clad festival celebrants, the Luperci probably ran about the area of the Palatine settlement.
While running, the Luperci struck those men or women they encountered with goatskin thongs (or perhaps a lagobolon ‘throwing stick’ in the early years) following the opening event: a sacrifice of goat or goat and dog.
If the Luperci, in their run, circled the Palatine Hill, it would have been impossible for Caesar, who was at the rostra, to have witnessed the entire proceedings from one spot. He could, however, have seen the climax. The naked Luperci started at the Lupercal, ran, and ended at the Comitium.
The running of the Luperci was a spectacle. Wiseman says Varro called the Luperci ‘actors’ (ludii). The first stone theater in Rome was to have overlooked the Lupercal. There is even a reference in Lactantius to the Luperci wearing dramatic masks.
Speculation abounds as to the reason for the striking with the thongs or lagobola. Perhaps the Luperci struck men and women to sever any deadly influence they were under, as
Celebrations
Lupercalia Continued
Michaels suggests. That they might be under such an influence has to do with the fact that one of the festivals to honor the dead, the Parentalia, occurred at about the same time.
If the act was to ensure fertility, it could be that the striking of the women was to represent penetration. Wiseman says that obviously, the husbands wouldn’t have wanted the Luperci actually copulating with their wives, but symbolic penetration, broken skin, made by a piece of a fertility symbol (goat), could be effective.
Striking women is thought to have been a fertility measure, but there was also a decided sexual component. The women may have bared their backs to the thongs from the festival’s inception. According to Wiseman, after 276 B.C., young married women (matronae) were encouraged to bare their bodies.
Augustus ruled out beardless young men from serving as Luperci because of their irresistibility, even though they were probably no longer naked. Some classical writers refer to the Luperci as wearing goatskin loincloths by the 1st century B.C.
Goats and the Lupercalia
Goats are symbols of sexuality and fertility. Amalthea’s goat horn brimming with milk became the cornucopia. One of the most lascivious of the gods was Pan/ Faunus, represented as having horns and a caprine bottom half.
Ovid names him as the god of the Lupercalia. Before the run, the Luperci priests performed their sacrifices of goats or goats and dog, which Plutarch calls the enemy of the wolf. This leads to another of the problems scholars discuss, the fact that the flamen dialis was present at the Lupercalia
This priest of Jupiter was forbidden to touch a dog or goat and may have been forbidden even to look at a dog. Another Augustan innovation may have been the goatskin on previously naked Luperci, which would have been part of an attempt to make the ceremony decent.
Flagellation
By the second century A.D., some of the elements of sexuality had been removed from the Lupercalia. Fully dressed matrons stretched out their hands to be whipped.
Later, the representations show women humiliated by flagellation at the hands of men fully dressed and no longer running about. Selfflagellation was part of the rites of Cybele on the ‘day of blood’ dies sanguinis (March 16). Roman flagellation could be fatal.
Celebrations
Lupercalia Continued
Horace writes about horribile flagellum, but the whip so used may have been a rougher sort. Scourging became a common practice in the monastic communities.
It would seem likely, and we think Wiseman agrees, that with the early church’s attitudes towards women and mortification of the flesh, Lupercalia fit right in despite its association with a pagan deity.
In “The God of the Lupercalia”, T. P. Wiseman suggests a variety of related gods may have been the god of the Lupercalia. As mentioned above, Ovid counted Faunus as the god of the Lupercalia.
Pan, Lupercus, Lycaeus, Bacchus, and Februus. The god itself was less important than the festival.
The End of the Lupercalia
Sacrifice, which was a part of the Roman ritual, had been prohibited since A.D. 341, but the Lupercalia survived beyond this date.
Generally, the end of the Lupercalia festival is attributed to Pope Gelasius (494-496). Wiseman believes it was another late 5th-century pope, Felix III. The ritual had become important to the civic life of Rome and was believed to help prevent pestilence, but as the pope charged, it was no longer being performed in the proper manner. Instead of the noble families running around naked (or in a loincloth), riffraff was running around clothed.
The pope also mentioned that it was more a fertility festival than a purification rite and there was pestilence even when the ritual was performed. The pope’s lengthy document seems to have put an end to the celebration of Lupercalia in Rome, but in Constantinople, again, according to Wiseman, the festival continued to the tenth century.
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-roman-festival-oflupercalia-121029
Celebrations
Imbolc
As winter thaws, take a moment to mark Imbolc, the moment spring starts to peek through. Imbolc Is the Pagan festival that marks the site of spring around the corner, celebrating lights and fertility.
It’s the start of the agricultural year, when the earth warms up, everything begins to grow, and lambs and other livestock start to be born. But it’s a lovely moment in the calendar to celebrate in your own private way. If you are still waiting patiently for winter to be over, to be able to get out in the garden again, feel the sun on your face a bit more and look forward to longer days, Imbolc marks that moment we say goodbye to the harshest days of winter and welcome the light and Warmth to come. Here are a few things you might like to do: • . Light a candle-a flame is the traditional symbol of Imbolc,
Which is a “fire ’ festival • Spring clean your home, or perhaps just make one corner of it look shiny and new. The home is central to the celebration of this festival. • . Plan your planting for the coming year and maybe sow a few early seeds. You can start off tomatoes or sweet peas indoors in February. • . February 1st is also Brigid’s day, the Celtic goddess of, among other things, poetry. Read a poem to yourself (or to Brigid, if the mood takes you). • visit a river or stream and have a paddle if it’s not too cold.
Alternatively, take your cleansing ritual home and have a nice long bath. • . Eat something creamy or cheesy. the word Imbolc comes from
‘ewe’s milk so you might like to enjoy a fondue, cream with your pudding or a simple Milky drink at bedtime.’ If you’re not a dairy eater, you could prepare something like a Curry, to celebrate the warming of the earth, with lots of fragrant spices. • . At sunset, put the lights on in every room in the house to welcome back the sun.
Shared By: High Priestess ravensthorn
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Imbolc Continued
Now some History on Imbolc Imbolc is a holiday with a variety of names, depending on which culture and location you’re looking at. In the Irish Gaelic, it’s called Oimelc, which translates to “ewe’s milk.” It’s a precursor to the end of winter when the Ewes are nursing their newly born lambs.
Spring and the planting seasons are right around the corner. To the Romans, this time of year halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox was the season of the Lupercalia. For them, it was a purification ritual held on February 15th, in which a goat was sacrificed, and a scourge made of its hide.
Thong-clad men ran through the city, Whacking people with bits of goat hide. Those who were struck considered themselves fortunate indeed. This is one of the few Roman celebrations that is not associated with a particular temple or deity. Instead, it focuses on the founding of the city of Rome, by twins Romulus and Remus, who were suckled by a she-wolf in a cave known as the “Lupercale.”
The ancient Egyptians celebrated this time of year as the Feast of Nut, whose birthday falls on February 2 on the Gregorian calendar. According to The Book of the Dead Nut Was seen as a mother figure to the Sun God RA who at sunrise was known as Khepera and took the form of a scarab beetle. She is typically portrayed as a nude woman covered in stars, and is positioned above her husband Geb, the earth God. When she comes down to meet him each night, darkness falls.
When Ireland converted to Christianity, it was hard to convince people to get rid of their old gods, so the church allowed them to worship the goddess Brighid as a Saintthus the creation of Saint Brigid’s day. today, there are many churches around the world which bear her name St. Brighid Still there is one of Ireland’s patron Saints and she is associated with an early Christian nun and abbess, although historians are divided on whether or not she was a real person.
For many Christians, February 2nd continues to be celebrated as Candlemas, the feast of purification of the virgin. By Jewish law, it took 40 days after a birth for a woman to be cleansed following the birth of a son. 40 days after Christmasthe birth of Jesus-is February 2nd. Candles were blessed, there was much feasting to be had, and the drab days of February suddenly seemed a little brighter.
In Catholic churches, the focus of this celebration is Saint Brigid. February is known as a month when love begins a new, in part to the widespread celebration I’ve Valentine’s Day. in some parts of
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Imbolc Continued
Europe comma there was a belief that February 14th was the day that birds and animals began their annual hunt for a mate. Valentine’s Day is named for the Christian priest who defied emperor Claudius II’s edict banning young soldiers from marrying.
In secret, Valentine “tide the knot” for many young couples. Eventually, he was captured and executed on February 14th, 269 C.E. before his death, he smuggled a message to a girl he had befriended while imprisoned-the first Valentine’s Day card. Although imbolc isn’t even mentioned in non-Gaelic Celtic traditions, it’s still a time rich in folklore and history. the Celts celebrated an early version of Groundhog Day on imbolc too- only with a serpent singing this poem. Thig an nathair as an toll
( The serpent will come from the hole )
Ia donn Bride
( on the brown day of Bride(Brighid) Ged robh tri traighean dh’an
(though there may be three feet of snow)
Air leachd an lair
(on the surface of the ground.)
Among agricultural societies, this time of year was marked by the preparation for the spring lambing, after which the ewes would lactatehence the term “ewe’s milk” As “Oimelc.” add Neolithic sites in Ireland, underground chambers align perfectly with the rising sun on Imbolc.
like many Pagan holidays, Imbolc has a Celtic connection as well, although it wasn’t celebrated in nonGaelic Celtic societies. The Irish goddess Brighid is the keeper of the sacred flame, the guardian of home and hearth period to honor her, purification and cleaning are a wonderful way to get ready for the coming of spring. In addition to fire, she is a goddess connected to inspiration and creativity.
Brighid is known as one of the Celtic “triune” goddesses-meaning that she is one and three simultaneously. The early Celts celebrated a purification festival by honoring
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Imbolc Continued
Brighid, or Brid, whose name meant “bright one” in some parts of the Scottish Highlands, Brighid was viewed in her aspect as Crone as Cailleach Bheur a woman with mystical powers who was older than the land itself. Brighid Was also a war like figure, Brigantia, in the Briganti’s tribe near Yorkshire, England. The Christians St Brigid was the daughter of a pictish slave who was baptized by Saint Patrick and founded a community of nuns at Kildare, Ireland.
In modern paganism, Brighid is viewed as part of the maiden/mother/crone cycle. She walks the earth on the eve of her day, and before going to bed each member of the household should leave a piece of clothing outside for Brighid to bless.
Smoor your fire as the last thing you do that night and rake the ashes smooth. When you get up in the morning, look for a mark on the ashes, assign that Brighid has passed that way in the night or morning. The clothes are brought inside, and now have powers of healing and protection thanks to Brighid
