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Feast of the Lemures

 

 
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In Roman religion
Roman religion

The term Roman religion may refer to:*Religion in ancient Rome*religions of the Roman Empire period **Imperial cult *** Sol Invictus**Mithraism...
, the Lemuralia or Lemuria was a feast during which the ancient Romans
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 performed rite
Rite

A rite is a subsesquitent contemporary file of complaints that are sent to the secretary of taste and is a jeremiah was a bull frog.Rites fall into three major categories:...
s to exorcise
Exorcism

Exorcism is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual being from a person or place which they are believed to have Spiritual possession....
 the malevolent and fearful ghosts of the dead from their homes. The unwholesome spectres of the restless dead, the lemures or larvae
Larvae

In Roman mythology, the larvae or lemures were the spectres or spirits of the dead; they were the malignant version of the lares. Some Roman writers describe lemures as the common name for all the spirits of the dead, and divide them into two classes: the lares, or the benevolent souls of the family, which haunted and guard...
 were propitiated with offerings of bean
Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genus of the Family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed.The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked before the pods ripen and dry, can be tender enough to eat whole, whether cooked or raw....
s. On those days, the Vestals
Vestal Virgin

In Ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins , were the virgin holy female priests of Vesta , the goddess of the hearth. Their primary task was to maintain the sacred fire of Vesta....
 would prepare sacred mola salsa (salt cake) from the first ears of wheat
Wheat

Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice....
 of the season. In the Julian calendar
Julian calendar

The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and came into force in 45 BC . It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus....
 the three days of the feast were 9, 11, and 13 May.






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In Roman religion
Roman religion

The term Roman religion may refer to:*Religion in ancient Rome*religions of the Roman Empire period **Imperial cult *** Sol Invictus**Mithraism...
, the Lemuralia or Lemuria was a feast during which the ancient Romans
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 performed rite
Rite

A rite is a subsesquitent contemporary file of complaints that are sent to the secretary of taste and is a jeremiah was a bull frog.Rites fall into three major categories:...
s to exorcise
Exorcism

Exorcism is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual being from a person or place which they are believed to have Spiritual possession....
 the malevolent and fearful ghosts of the dead from their homes. The unwholesome spectres of the restless dead, the lemures or larvae
Larvae

In Roman mythology, the larvae or lemures were the spectres or spirits of the dead; they were the malignant version of the lares. Some Roman writers describe lemures as the common name for all the spirits of the dead, and divide them into two classes: the lares, or the benevolent souls of the family, which haunted and guard...
 were propitiated with offerings of bean
Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genus of the Family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed.The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked before the pods ripen and dry, can be tender enough to eat whole, whether cooked or raw....
s. On those days, the Vestals
Vestal Virgin

In Ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins , were the virgin holy female priests of Vesta , the goddess of the hearth. Their primary task was to maintain the sacred fire of Vesta....
 would prepare sacred mola salsa (salt cake) from the first ears of wheat
Wheat

Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice....
 of the season. In the Julian calendar
Julian calendar

The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and came into force in 45 BC . It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus....
 the three days of the feast were 9, 11, and 13 May. The myth of origin
Founding myth

A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as an important national symbol and affirm a set of national values....
 of this ancient festival, according to Ovid, who derives Lemuria from a supposed Remuria was that it had been instituted by Romulus
Romulus and Remus

Romulus and Remus are the traditional Founding Fathers of Rome, appearing in Roman mythology as the twin sons of the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia, fathered by the god of war, Mars ....
 to appease the spirit of Remus
Remus

Remus could refer to any of the following:* Remus, twin brother of the mythical founder of Rome, Romulus ? see Romulus and Remus* Remus , the twin of the Romulans' fictional homeworld in Star Trek...
 (Ovid
Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
, Fasti
Fasti

Fasti, a Latin word, refers to the Roman calendar and almanac; and especially, to a long, possibly unfinished poem on the religious festivals of the Roman year and their mythology underpinnings, by the poet Ovid....
, V.421ff; Porphyrius ). Ovid notes that at this festival it was the custom to appease or expel the evil spirits by walking barefoot
Barefoot

Going barefoot means for a person not to use, or to go without, any type of foot covering. It is traditional to go barefoot in many Developing country, but less common in Developed country due to greater societal taboos, fashions, or peer pressure against going barefoot....
 and throwing black beans over the shoulder at night. It was the head of the household who was responsible for getting up at midnight and walking around the house with bare feet throwing out black beans and repeating the incantation, "I send these; with these beans I redeem me and mine (haec ego mitto; his redimo meque meosque fabis.)." nine times. The household would then clash bronze pots while repeating, "Ghosts of my fathers and ancestors, be gone!" nine times.

Because of this annual exorcism
Exorcism

Exorcism is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual being from a person or place which they are believed to have Spiritual possession....
 of the noxious spirits of the dead, the whole month of May was rendered unlucky for marriages, whence the proverb Mense Maio malae nubent ("They wed ill who wed in May"), and thus the rush of June weddings— "because the weather is so nice"— in our own day.

On the culminating day of the Lemuralia, May 13 in 609 or 610— the day being recorded as more significant than the year—, Pope Boniface IV
Pope Boniface IV

Pope Saint Boniface IV was pope from 608 to his death.Son of Johannes, a physician, a Marsian from the province and town of Valeria ; he succeeded Boniface III after a vacancy of over nine months....
 consecrated the Pantheon
Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt circa 126 AD during Hadrian's reign....
 at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, and the feast of that dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at Rome ever since.

According to cultural historians, this ancient custom was Christianized
Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the religious conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting native Paganism practices and culture, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses, due to the Christian efforts at Ch...
 in the feast of All Saints' Day, established in Rome first on May 13, in order to de-paganize the Roman Lemuria. In the eighth century, as the popular observance of the Lemuria had faded over time, the feast of All Saints was shifted to November 1, coinciding with the similar Celtic propitiation of the spirits at Samhain
Samhain

Samhain is a festival on the end of the harvest season in Gaels and Britons cultures, with aspects of a festival of the dead. Many scholars believe that it was the beginning of the Celtic year....
. Pope Gregory III
Pope Gregory III

Gregory III was pope from 731 to 741.A Syriacs by birth, he succeeded Pope Gregory II in March 731. His pontificate, like that of his predecessor, was disturbed by the Iconoclasm controversy in the Byzantine Empire, in which he vainly invoked the intervention of Charles Martel....
 (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary.

The present official Roman Catholic position is that the Roman festival was not connected with the origin of All Saints
All Saints

All Saints' Day , often shortened to All Saints, is a feast celebrated on November 1 in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity in honour of all the saints, known and unknown....
.

See also

  • Halloween
    Halloween

    Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic mythology of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a Secularity celebration, but some Christians and Paganism have expressed strong feelings about its religious overtones....
  • Larvae
    Larvae

    In Roman mythology, the larvae or lemures were the spectres or spirits of the dead; they were the malignant version of the lares. Some Roman writers describe lemures as the common name for all the spirits of the dead, and divide them into two classes: the lares, or the benevolent souls of the family, which haunted and guard...
  • Setsubun
    Setsubun

    In Japan, Setsubun is the day before the beginning of each season. The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually the term refers to the Spring Setsubun, properly called Lichun celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the ....


Sources

  • Smith, William, 1875. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.