Parentalia

Inancient Rome,theParentalia(Latin pronunciation:[parɛnˈtaːlɪ.a]) ordies parentales([ˈdɪ.eːsparɛnˈtaːleːs],"ancestral days" ) was a nine-dayfestivalheld in honour of family ancestors, beginning on 13 February.^[1]

Although the Parentalia was a holiday on theRoman religious calendar,its observances were mainly domestic and familial.^[2]The importance of the family to the Roman state, however, was expressed by public ceremonies on the opening day, theIdesof February, when aVestalconducted a rite for the collectivedi parentesof Rome at the tomb ofTarpeia.^[3]

Overview

Oviddescribes sacred offerings (sacrificia) of flower-garlands, wheat, salt, wine-soaked bread and violets to the "shades of the dead" (ManesorDi manes) at family tombs, which were located outside Rome's sacred boundary(pomerium).These observances were meant to strengthen the mutual obligations and protective ties between the living and the dead and were a lawful duty of thepaterfamilias(head of the family).^[4]Parentalia concluded on 21 February in the midnight rites ofFeralia,when thepaterfamiliasaddressed the malevolent, destructive aspects of hisManes.

Feralia was a placation and exorcism: Ovid thought it a more rustic, primitive and ancient affair than the Parentalia itself. It appears to have functioned as a cleansing ritual forCaristiaon the following day when the family held an informal banquet to celebrate the affectionate bonds between themselves and their benevolent ancestral dead (Lares).^[5]The emphasis on the collective cult for the Manes and earlydi parentesimplies their afterlife as vague and lacking individuation. In later cults they are vested with personal qualities, and inImperial cult,they acquired divinenumenand becamedivi,divine entities.^[6]

From Parentalia to Caristia all temples were closed, marriages were forbidden, and "magistrates appeared without their insignia," an indication that no official business was conducted.William Warde Fowlerdescribes the Parentalia as "practically a yearly renewal of the rite of burial".^[7]

Individuals might also be commemorated on their birthday(dies natalis).Some would be commemorated throughout the year on marked days of the month, such as theKalends,NonesorIdes,when lamps might be lit at the tomb.^[8]TheLemuriaon 9, 11 and 13 May was aimed at appeasing "kinless and hungry" spirits of the dead.^[9]

Notes

^Mary Beard,J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price,Religions of Rome: A History(Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 50; Stefan Weinstock,Divus Julius(Oxford, 1971), pp. 291-6.
^Beardet al.,Religions of Rome,p. 50.
^William Warde Fowler,The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic(London, 1908), p. 306 (1899Internet Archive edition available.
^Ovid,Fasti,2.537-539. Ibid 2.534 formanes;W. Warde Fowler,The Roman festivals of the period of the Republic,p. 306, citesFestus'di manesas a placatory euphemism: some Manes were to be feared.
^Ovid,Fasti,2.677. Fowler,Roman Festivals,p. 309, has ritualistically clothed statues of theLaresat this "sacred meal."
^Duncan Fishwick,The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire,vol 1, 1991, 1, 51.
^Fowler,Roman Festivals,p. 308.
^J.M.C. Toynbee,Death and Burial in the Roman World(Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971, 1996), pp.61–64.
^Toynbee, "Death and Burial in the Roman World,p. 64.

Parentalia

Overview

See also

Notes

Further reading