Thursday, February 15, 2007

Bonam Quirinaliam et Bonam Fornacaliam!

The 17th of February is the festival of Quirinus. Nobody knows exactly what Quirinus did, but he was apparently indiginous to the area of Rome (not brought in by the Greeks or Etruscans). He was possibly a peaceful version of Mars (the Romans liked to double their deities; for example, Juppiter's double was Veiovis, who is another obscure god). By the 3rd century BCE Quirinus had been assimilated into Romulus (so Quirinus became another name for Romulus).

The Fornacalia is not necessarily on the 17th, but is a movable feast. This is the Festival of Fornax, another obscure goddess; Fornax was the goddess of ovens. (Coincidentally, my landlord is installing a new oven in my apartment on Friday. Thanks, Fornax!) On this day, rituals (the details of which are lost in time) were performed either to keep Fornax happy, or for the benefit of the ovens.

In the center of the image is an oven in Pompeii. The cylinder thingies were used for grinding grain.


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