Fordicidia

The Fordicidien (from Latin forda (bos) for "pregnant (cow)" and caedere for "kill, slaughter") were a Roman festival in honor of the goddess Tellus on April 15th.

The Fordicidien got their name from the fordae boves , the 30 pregnant cows that were sacrificed on this day with the participation of the pontifices . The unborn calves that were cut out of the womb were burned by the senior Vestal virgin ( Virgo Vestalis Maxima ). The ashes were later mixed with the ashes of the October horse by the Vestal Virgins at the festival of the parilies and scattered into the sacrificial fire as suffimen .

literature

• Dorothea Baudy: Fordicidia. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 4, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01474-6 , Sp. 589-589.