Fordicidia
Fordicidia | |
---|---|
Observed by | Cerialia, Parilia |
In
On the
Sacrifice and ritual
The
The Fordicidia was named from fordae cows; a forda cow is one that is carrying an unborn calf; because on this day several pregnant cows are officially and publicly sacrificed in the curiae, the festival was called the Fordicidia from fordae caedendae, 'the pregnant cows which were to be slaughtered.'[5]
The forms horda and Hordicalia are also found.[6] Like many other aspects of Roman law and religion,[7] the institution of the Fordicidia was attributed to Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome. The rustic god Faunus instructed Numa in a dream that a sacrifice to Tellus would mitigate the harsh agricultural conditions Rome was grappling with, but the oracular message required interpretation: "By the death of cattle, King, Tellus must be placated: two cows, that is. Let a single heifer yield two lives (animae) for the rites."[8] Numa solved the riddle by instituting the sacrifice of a pregnant cow.[9]
As with other rituals in which public cult was mirrored by private, or vice versa, one sacrifice was conducted on behalf of the
In the state sacrifice for the Fordicidia, the unborn calf was wrenched from its mother's womb by the attendants of the Virgo Vestalis Maxima, or Vestal Maxima, and burnt. Its ashes were preserved by the Vestals and used as one of the ingredients in the ritual substance suffimen, along with the dried blood of the October Horse from the previous year, and the stalks from which beans had been harvested.[12] The suffimen was sprinkled on the bonfires of the Parilia, the festival devoted to purifying shepherds and their sheep, and later celebrated also as the "birthday" of the city.[13] The sacrifice at the Fordicidia and preparation of the suffimen constituted the first public ceremony of the year in which the Vestals played an active role.[4]
Meaning
The purpose of the sacrifice, as suggested by the
The Fordicidia, along with about half the festivals of Republican Rome, does not appear on the
Comparison
In the spirit of the
References
- ^ a b Mary Beard, J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, Religions of Rome: A History (Cambridge University Press, 1998), vol. 1, p. 45.
- ^ William Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 1908), pp. 66–67.
- ^ The other was held August 19.
- ^ a b Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 71.
- ^ Varro, De re rustica 2.5.6.; Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 71.
- ^ William Warde Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People (London, 1922), p. 108.
- Fasti4.641–666: morte boum tibi, rex, Tellus placanda duarum: / det sacris animas una iuvenca duas.
- Hittiteparallels.
- ^ Fowler, Roman Festivals, pp. 71 and 303; Smith, The Roman Clan, pp. 206–207.
- H.H. Scullard, History of the Roman World 753 to 146 BC (Routledge, 1980), p. 68 online; Kurt A. Raaflaub, Social Struggles in Archaic Rome: New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Orders(Blackwell, 1986, 2005), p. 109.
- ^ Ovid, Fasti 4.731–734; Daniel P. Harmon, "Religion in the Latin Elegists", Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 2.16.3 (1986), p. 1958 online; Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 71.
- ^ Beard et al., Religions of Rome pp. 53 and 383.
- John Lydus, De Mensibus 4.49, drawing on Varro, as noted by Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 71.
- ^ Beard et al., Religions of Rome, p. 53.
- ^ Beard et al., Religions of Rome, p. 383.
- ^ Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 72.