Lupercalia info

I never did get around to telling you about Lupercalia, which was on Feb. 15. The exact significance of the holiday is unknown, but it had something to do with fertility. At the Lupercal (the cave at the foot of the Palatine Hill where the she-wolf, Lupa, was thought to have nursed Romulus and Remus) goats and a dog were sacrificed. The blood was smeared on the foreheads of two boys, who were required to laugh. Then the Luperci (who were priests) would run around the Palatine striking passers-by (especially women) with a whip.

Here are the Roman Marriage notes I promised

Roman marriages were either cum manu or sine manu; manum was the husband's power over the wife --- if the marriage included manum, the wife entered the husband's family, so that his paterfamilias became hers.

The legal distinction between cum manu and sine manu was apparently not the biggest deal; marriages cum manu declined in popularity throughout Roman history until, by the 3d Century CE, they were obsolete. And sine manu was apparently the norm for most Romans at all periods.

There were 3 routes to achieving manum.

1. Confarreatio. A religious ceremony which involved eating spelt cake.
2. Coemptio. A fake sale of the bride between the father and the groom.
3. Usus. Cohabitation for 1 full year, without the bride's going home for 3 consecutive days.

Sine manu was thus a lot like usus, but without the legal implications of manum.

To marry, you needed to satisfy 3 (here listed as 4) prerequisites:

1. Connubium. Legal status (of both bride and groom)
2. Age. 12 for women, 14 for men.
3. Consent of the paterfamilias
4. Consent of both the bride and groom (affectio maritalis --- the "marriage feeling")

The ceremony was most often held in June; it had to be held on a religiously appropriate day, and wasn't held without first taking augurs which, if unfavorable, would postpone the wedding. The bride wore a white tunic, girded with a 'knot of Hercules;' she wore an orange (saffron-colored) veil, with matching shoes. Everyone would gather at the bride's father's house. There the pronuba (the matron of honor, 'played' in the Aeneid by Juno) would oversee the couple as they spoke words of commitment; the pronuba would then join their right hands (dextrarum iunctio). The wedding party would sacrifice a pig, then feast.

The most important part of the wedding was in the evening, when the bride was led by three boys to the groom's house (deductio). The groom met her there and carried her over the threshold (avoiding the bad omen of her tripping). They'd say to each other, "Ubi tu Caius, ego Caia" (or vice versa). The bride would then touch fire and water. When the bride and groom entered the bedroom, the wedding party would sing crude (and traditional) songs outside.

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.

Roman Marriage

The relief depicts a Roman wedding: the scene is the joining of right hands. The woman in the middle is the pronuba (like Juno). Do you think the sculptor made the couple's faces expressive of something, even if not an emotion? Maybe an ideal mindset --- the ideal of whatever brides and grooms were supposed to be thinking? I can't say.

Take a look at this reenactment. I think the bride could have used sunglasses!

But this, on the other hand, is not a reenactment!

I apologize that this source for info on Roman marriage is old (1875!), but at least it's thorough. The article opens with an overview of the legal aspects and types of Roman marriage, and the last third or so is a generalized reconstruction of a marriage ceremony (that part's the most interesting reading). Make sure you note the second-to-last paragraph (which is a disclaimer, to the effect that the author is making educated guesses).