*Ø* Blogmanac April 28 | Floralia: RudeFest
Festival of Floralia, or Floral Games, Roman Empire (Apr 28 - May 3)
In the Northern Hemisphere, Spring is well underway, the days are getting warmer, the flowers are blooming, and the birds and bees are active. The ancient Romans knew how to celebrate it.
The Floralia, or Florales Ludi, was a six-day festival for the goddess Flora, deity (originally Sabine) of flowers and youthful pleasures, whose cult was said to have been introduced by Numa.
Flora was also the goddess of Spring, especially associated with vines, olives, fruit trees and honey-bearing plants. A temple was built for her at the Circus Maxima between the Aventine and the Palatine hills, and a shrine at the Quirinal at which corn stalks were offered. When Augustus became Pontifex Maximus, he built a chapel to Vesta in his own house on the Palatine, and dedicated it on this day, which was made a public holiday.
It was a festival of sexual fun and liberty and marked by the consumption of oceans of grog. Beans and other seeds were planted, representing fecundity. Originally a movable feast controlled by the condition of the crops and flowers, it’s believed to have been instituted in 238 BCE under the command of an oracle in the Sibylline books, with the purpose of gaining from the goddess the protection of the blossoms. Games were instituted in honour of Flora at that time, but were soon discontinued before being restored in 173 BCE in the consulship of L Postumius Albinus and M Popilius Laenas as a six-day festival, after storms had destroyed crops and vines.
Day and night there were games, pantomimes, theatre and stripteases with people of all classes in their brightest clothes, all decked out in flowers – even their animals were garlanded and Rome must have looked particularly beautiful at this time. Goats and hares were let loose as they represented fertility. Gift-giving for the season included small vegetables as tokens of sex and fertility. Use your imagination ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Festival of Floralia, or Floral Games, Roman Empire (Apr 28 - May 3)
In the Northern Hemisphere, Spring is well underway, the days are getting warmer, the flowers are blooming, and the birds and bees are active. The ancient Romans knew how to celebrate it.
The Floralia, or Florales Ludi, was a six-day festival for the goddess Flora, deity (originally Sabine) of flowers and youthful pleasures, whose cult was said to have been introduced by Numa.
Flora was also the goddess of Spring, especially associated with vines, olives, fruit trees and honey-bearing plants. A temple was built for her at the Circus Maxima between the Aventine and the Palatine hills, and a shrine at the Quirinal at which corn stalks were offered. When Augustus became Pontifex Maximus, he built a chapel to Vesta in his own house on the Palatine, and dedicated it on this day, which was made a public holiday.
It was a festival of sexual fun and liberty and marked by the consumption of oceans of grog. Beans and other seeds were planted, representing fecundity. Originally a movable feast controlled by the condition of the crops and flowers, it’s believed to have been instituted in 238 BCE under the command of an oracle in the Sibylline books, with the purpose of gaining from the goddess the protection of the blossoms. Games were instituted in honour of Flora at that time, but were soon discontinued before being restored in 173 BCE in the consulship of L Postumius Albinus and M Popilius Laenas as a six-day festival, after storms had destroyed crops and vines.
Day and night there were games, pantomimes, theatre and stripteases with people of all classes in their brightest clothes, all decked out in flowers – even their animals were garlanded and Rome must have looked particularly beautiful at this time. Goats and hares were let loose as they represented fertility. Gift-giving for the season included small vegetables as tokens of sex and fertility. Use your imagination ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 10:22 PM | Permalink
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