Holidays

If it wasn't citizens and slaves trading place for a day, then it was half-naked young men running around the streets whipping women with goat skins. The Roman holidays! Where to begin? Perhaps the Roman calendar would be a good place. If you think nothing more of the Ides than that Caesar was killed on the Ides of March then you ought to check this site out.

Following the winter solstice, Romans were anxious for spring to begin, and with it, all symbols of fertility. The Lupercalia was one manifestation of this desire. On XV Kalends of Mar., the Luperci, young men who were naked except for the skins of goats that were sacrificed as part of the rites earlier in the day, ran from the Lupercal all around Rome to the Palatine, both to purify the ancient site in a ceremony, and to strike the women they encountered with strips of goat skin to promote fertility. "Neither potent herbs, nor prayers, nor magic spells shall make of thee a mother," writes Ovid, "submit with patience to the blows dealt by a fruitful hand."

On IV Kalends Mai was the Floralia. Dedicated to the goddess of flowers and vegetation Flora, this day was considered by the prostitutes of Rome to be their own. While flowers decked the temples, Roman citizens wore colorful clothing instead of the usual white.

The feast days give us many reasons to celebrate throughout the year. This page includes feast days from traditions other than merely Roman, but nonetheless, any excuse for a party, right?

The final holiday of the Roman year was the Saturnalia. It was an agricultural festival in origin, and was celebrated XVI Kalends Ian. For most of the history of Rome, the Saturnalia festival lasted 7 days and was the favorite of the Roman people. Similar to our Christmas, it was characterized by the giving of gifts. In fact, eventually the rites of the Saturnalia festival was absorbed into the Christian tradition and reborn as Christmas. The social order was also inverted, citizens would serve dinner to their slaves, and those slaves would later go out into the streets and gamble with dice, which was illegal during the rest of the year. On the day of the festival itself, there was a sacrifice at the temple followed by a public banquet. After this banquet, citizens are reputed to have shouted "Io, Saturnalia!"

Long live the Roman Empire!

Io, Saturnalia!

Last updated: 14 July 1997 Send Comments to: Eleanor Rodgers, erodgers@uclink4.berkeley.edu Copyright © 1997 UVM Classics Department All Rights Reserved.