Cerealia

April 12: Cerealia

Cerealia
Cerealia on a Roman street.

This ancient Roman seven-day festival honored of the goddess Ceres, goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherly relationships. The exact dates of the festival are uncertain but it was somewhere around mid-April. (Ceres Greek counterpart is Demeter.)

Ovid, a Roman poet (43 BCE-17/18 CE), described the festival as a nighttime ritual. Blazing torches were tied to the tails of live foxes, who were then released into the Circus Maximus. Ovid also wrote that Ceres’ search for her lost daughter Proserpina was represented by women clothed in white, carrying lit torches. And there were Ludi Ceriales or “Games of Ceres.” During the Republican era, ludi circenses (circus games) and a horse race were added. After 175 BCE, ludi scaenici (theatrical performances) were introduced.

People in mourning were not allowed to participate. Cerealia was not observed in 216 BCE after the Battle of Cannae, when 50,000 Roman troops were killed by Hannibal.

⇴ image from The Getty Center, wikipedia, public domain

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