Parilia
Parilia or Palilia was the name of an ancient Roman shepherd's festival that was celebrated on April 21st both in the city of Rome and in the countryside. Since it was celebrated in honor of the goddess Pales , it was probably originally called Palilia (" Palilia ", plural of the adjective Palilis = "belonging to Pales"). But it is mostly called Parilia . It is also possible that it was originally called Parilia (from parere , to give birth) and was only later connected to the cult of the Pales due to the similarity of the name.
Ovid describes the process in detail in his Fasti . It was a day of purification and renewal. The Romans associated this celebration with the memory of the mythical founding of their city by Romulus , which they dated April 21, and of the shepherds who, according to myth, were their ancestors. In this context, the originally private festival was also celebrated by the state. We only know details about the private celebrations.
On that day the Vestals gave the people the suffimen , a means of incense , consisting of the ashes of the calves sacrificed to the Fordicidia (April 15) , the blood of the October horse (October 15) and bean straw . In the morning the stables were swept out and smoked, including the animals. The stables were decorated with leaves and the animals with garlands. Millet cake and milk were then offered to the goddess. The victims asked for forgiveness for violations of religious rules, which they had committed unintentionally or out of necessity, and for health and welfare for humans and animals. Then the festival participants jumped three times through a bean-straw fire; this was meant as an act of purification. This was followed by an outdoor feast.
In late antiquity , the festival was called Romaea (Greek Rhomaia ) or Natalis urbis (city's birthday) and was associated with the cult of the goddess Roma , which had been introduced in the city of Rome by Emperor Hadrian after it had long existed in the provinces would have.
In the second half of the 15th century, the annual celebration of Parilia was renewed in the Accademia Romana founded by Julius Pomponius Laetus , with which the Roman humanists wanted to demonstrate their attachment to the ancient tradition and the former greatness of their city.
literature
- Mary Beard : A complex of times: no more sheep on Romulus' birthday . In: Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 213, 1987, pp. 1-15.
- Fritz Graf : Roman Aitia and its rites. The example of Saturnalia and Parilia. In: Museum Helveticum 49, 1992, pp. 13-25 ( doi : 10.5169 / seals-38533 ).
Remarks
- ↑ Franz Bömer (ed.) Advocates this interpretation : P. Ovidius Naso, Die Fasten , Vol. 2: Commentary , Heidelberg 1958, pp. 271–273.
- ↑ The main source is Ovid, Fasti 4,721–862; see also Properz 4,1,17-20 and 4,4,73-78; Tibull 2,5,87-104.
- ↑ Paola Farenga: Considerazioni sull'Accademia romana nel primo Cinquecento . In: Marc Deramaix et al. (Ed.): Les académies dans l'Europe humaniste. Idéaux et pratiques , Genève 2008, pp. 57–74, here: 62–65.