Festival of the Lemuralia, festival of ghosts, ancient Rome

In Roman religion, Lemures were wandering spirits of departed loved ones. They were said to revisit their homes at this time, and were shown respect by the Roman people, who set aside a week to appease, or exorcise them. We may think of it as similar, and serving a similar function to, Halloween (Samhain). The prosimian primates called lemurs were so named by Linnaeus for their big eyes, noctural habits and unearthly noises they make at night, like the ancient Roman spooks ...

Categories: ancient-rome, halloween, calendar-customs