Lady Fortuna

A Legend of Fortune and Feminity

Written by Luc Stringer Photo By Kia Harlan

The sun caresses the serene face of Lady Fortuna, a statue of a goddess standing tall and proud at the old entrance to California Baptist University. Once the symbol of a pagan god, Fortuna has come to represent love, fertility and a happy ever after.

The statue was created in Sept. 1927, although it is unclear who built it. Previously located in El Monte, California, the thennamed California Baptist College acquired Fortuna when it moved to Riverside in 1955. Just a few years later, Fortuna would become a popular proposal spot on campus.

In Greco-Roman mythology, the goddess Fortuna represented luck and good fortune, although some accounts also connect her to fertility. Her image appears throughout Roman history in many forms. Sometimes, she is an oncoming storm — bad or dubious luck. In other accounts, she is good fortune for those who remain pure of character. Yet CBU’s statue seems to show Fortuna as Lady Luck, her most popular form.

Perhaps it was the mysticism and mythology surrounding Fortuna that propelled students to ritualized the fountain. In 1963, Vi Estel, who would later work at the university library as an archivist until 2017, popularized a “candle lighting” tradition. The 1963 Banner newspaper reported that 30 people came to the first candlelight ceremony to celebrate the engagement of a female student. Yet, it seems this was just the beginning.

Toni Kirk, professor of English, arrived on campus as a freshman in 1972. She recalls her experience of the ritual.

“You would get an invitation to a Fortuna announcement,” Kirk says. “You wouldn’t know who it was for. All of the women would arrive at the location, and then … people would think up (various types of ceremonies), but they would announce who was going to get married around Fortuna.”

Kirk remembers receiving a hand-written invitation to the ceremony. Of course, she would dress nicely for the event, wearing a long dress, the fashion of the time. The event took place after sundown. Kirk joined the group of women around the fountain, taking a candle that was offered to her. Then, someone would announce their engagement. One account even ended with the groom being thrown into the fountain.

Interestingly, although no candlelight ceremonies have been reported in decades, some portion of reverence remains. On Jan. 14, 2012, YouTuber user Lindsey Malcom published a video titled “Stuff CBU Girls Say,” in which student Ryan Baxter dressed up as a woman and ran around the fountain, claiming that the more times you run around Fortuna the more fertile you would be. The video was satire, but illustrates the pervasive myth surrounding Fortuna and fertility.

This idea of circling the statue is a commonplace idea in today’s CBU. Like stepping on the CBU seal next to the Yeager Building (which may result in a late graduation, as the superstition goes), many students still speak of Fortuna’s promise of fertility.

Alumna Cristin Wondergem, who graduated CBU with a public relations degree in 2013, said that she had heard about the myth and even participated in it.

“The myth is that seniors would walk or run around the fountain three times, I believe, and then you were supposed to have good fertility and be able to have many children.” Wondergem said. “I did it, and it hasn’t worked out for me yet!”

The legend of the Fortuna fountain is just that — a legend. Yet, it has united students for almost 60 years. While we may have lost some of the celebrations and traditions, it remains a landmark on campus that will have a lasting impression on nearly every student to graduate CBU.