*Ø* Blogmanac December 5 | Happy Faunalia

Festival of Faunalia, Roman Empire, celebrated in honor of Faunus, the Roman version of the Greek god Phaunos, or Pan.

The Faunalia was commemorated in rural areas, as a celebration of Nature and animals. The people celebrated this festival with a dance performed in triple measure, as danced by the priests of Salii, the priests of Mars. Faunus was the son of Picus, whom Circe turned into a woodpecker for spurning her love, and grandson of Cronus (Saturn). On his tomb in Crete, according to Robert Graves (The Greek Myths, 1955), was the epitaph, “Here lies the woodpecker who was also Zeus”. Both Pan, the Greek god of the wild woods, and Hermes were also associated with this bird, and all three are rain-making shepherd gods, says Graves. Faunus was worshipped as the god of fields and shepherds, and as a god of prophecy.

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