Rome's April Festivals
/We’re getting into Rome’s festivals, and April is FULL of them! We’re celebrating the harvest, we’re celebrating sex, we’re celebrating wine, shepherds, flowers and more! Get excited for the month ahead!
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of animal death and sacrifice, sexual content, slut shaming, misogyny, pregnancy, immolation, death, and murder.
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About Us
Spirits is a boozy podcast about mythology, legends, and folklore. Every episode, co-hosts Julia and Amanda mix a drink and discuss a new story or character from a wide range of places, eras, and cultures. Learn brand-new stories and enjoy retellings of your favorite myths, served over ice every week, on Spirits.
Transcript
[theme]
AMANDA: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. Every week, we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.
JULIA: I'm Julia. And, Amanda, I want you to think back a couple of— not a couple of episodes, several episodes ago. Weeks—
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: —maybe months ago.
AMANDA: Yep.
JULIA: Maybe last year. I don't really recall. The thing about podcasting that we joke about a lot is we say things into the microphone and then completely forget about them until someone reminds us of a funny thing we said. And we're like, "Oh! I did say that, I guess."
AMANDA: That's right. If you are the kind of person who laughs at your own jokes, podcasting is for you.
JULIA: Yes. Yes, it is. We all have weird memento brain. The moment—
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: —these words go into a microphone, we simply forget that they were said.
AMANDA: It's gone.
JULIA: But a while back, we had joked about how we wanted to create a calendar of Greek and Roman festivals so that we could, like, bring these back into the public consciousness. You remember this?
AMANDA: Yes. I sure do, because I don't need Christian holidays and I don't need false celebrations of nationalism. What I do need is an excuse to, like, get wine drunk with my girls or, you know, clean out my house or, I don't know, rededicate a temple to Hephaestus or someone.
JULIA: There you go. So this had me thinking about how many different festivals would be celebrated from month to month, particularly in ancient Rome. And since so much of our modern calendar actually pulls from the ancient Roman calendar, I figured I would get us somewhat started off by discussing the various different Roman celebrations that happen in the month of April.
AMANDA: Hey, that's the month what's coming now.
JULIA: That is. This is— that's the month we're in currently. So let me tell you, Amanda, April, pretty important month on the Roman calendar.
AMANDA: Is it really?
JULIA: Yes, and there are a couple of pretty banger festivals that were celebrated during this month.
AMANDA: Let's bring it back, babe.
JULIA: Before we get started, a little context about the Roman calendar. So the original Roman calendar supposedly was established by Rome's first king, Romulus, who will be important later when we're talking about a certain holiday.
AMANDA: Brother suckled at the teat of the wolf, et cetera.
JULIA: Yes. And so this original ancient Roman calendar consisted of 10 months.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: Now, the Julian calendar, which was established unsurprisingly by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE, is basically the solar calendar that we, more or less, use to this day. It's 365 days, a leap year every four years.
AMANDA: Now, why is my brain telling me that we use the Gregorian calendar?
JULIA: This— that's a great question, Amanda. So the Gregorian calendar accounts for an 11-minute annual drift that happens in the Julian calendar.
AMANDA: Oh, okay, so the Gregorian is, like, Julian 1.1.
JULIA: So the Gregorian calendar was established in 1582 because after, you know, a hundred— no. After a thousand and six hundred years or so, they were like, "There's this weird, like, 11-minute drift that's happening every year. How do we solve that?"
AMANDA: Got it.
JULIA: So that is the— improves the accuracy by skipping leap days on century years, not divisible by 400.
AMANDA: So next time your bar trivia team needs to answer the difference or if then question about the Julian and Gregorian calendars, you're welcome.
JULIA: In this episode, we're going to be talking about the Roman calendar, and we're mainly gonna be talking about this as the pre-Julian calendar with its 10 months and with the calendar starting with the new year in the spring in March. So in the pre-Julian calendar, March is the beginning of the new year.
AMANDA: And don't it feel that way sometimes, Julia?
JULIA: It does, feel that way sometimes. So that would make April, which was known as Aprilis, technically the second month of the Roman calendar.
AMANDA: Right on. At least here in the Northern Hemisphere, it does feel that way. March is when stuff starts peeking its head out of the ground and April is when it starts blooming.
JULIA: And that's a great point, Amanda, because the name Aprilis, as the Latin word, has roots in the word aperire, which means to open.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: Now, records at the time of that being the origin suggest that this was a reference to the ways that in springtime, "the fruits and flowers and animals and seas and lands do open."
AMANDA: Hey, look at that.
JULIA: So there you go. So we get the word April from Aprilis, which means to open in Latin.
AMANDA: Love it.
JULIA: Like that blooming, beautiful, everything is opening up kind of thing. So there is some suggestion from scholars and particularly as well from the poet Ovid that the month of April is tied to the goddess Aphrodite and that the name might have come from her Greek name as well. So as you know, Aphrodite, Greek name for the goddess. Venus, the Roman name for the goddess.
AMANDA: And Aphrodite does emerge from those frothy shores from the clamshells, so there is also a bit of an opening up there.
JULIA: That is very true, very true. also there's a sort of, like, interesting— we'll talk about this in one of the festivals, but, like, Venus is particularly tied to the Romans being able to trace their origins back to the ancient Greeks.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: So—
AMANDA: Some nationalism after all.
JULIA: Yes. So there is some importance to that as well. And it's also potentially tied to the fact that Aprilis is a month that celebrates the goddess Venus pretty substantially. There are several festivals that are dedicated to her and various aspects of her. And that starts actually with the first festival of the month, which we'll talk about right now. But before we do a little bit more calendar context to make this even clearer. You might remember, I mentioned in a previous episode at the beginning of the year, calends, right?
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: So Callens is the first day of every month in the ancient Roman calendar and is in fact where we get the word calendar from. Now, what's confusing or at least slightly confusing is that the Romans didn't number their days of the month from the first day to the last day. So, like, for example, if you were reading the pre-Julian calendar in ancient Rome, you wouldn't see, like, April 1st to April 30th. Instead, what they did was they would count back from three fixed days in every month.
AMANDA: So, like, beginning, middle, end?
JULIA: Yeah. So we had calends, which would be the first of the month, but not that month. It would be the following month. So, like, you would be like, "Oh, so this is three days before the calends of Aprilis." And that would be—
AMANDA: Got it.
JULIA: —like the end of March.
AMANDA: Okay. It seems a little confusing, but I'm following so far.
JULIA: It's a little confusing. There was also the Ides, as in, Beware the Ides of March.
AMANDA: She's the middle.
JULIA: She's the middle. It would be either the 13th or 15th day of the month. And then there was the Nones, which are either the fifth or the seventh day of the month. So for example, in April, the Nones was the fifth day of the month, the Ides was the 13th day of the month. So to give you a practical example of that for it to make sense, what we would consider April 23rd would actually be considered the ninth day before the calends of May.
AMANDA: Well, that seems worse. It seems like we have the better system now.
JULIA: I agree. I think so as well, but you have to keep in mind that this was a weird fluctuating sort of calendar. And so the days didn't always, like, super line up where there would be 28 days or 30 days in each month.
AMANDA: That's fair. And if you're gonna meet like— if you're gonna have a festival in the Ides of March, like, you know, it's almost like every year you're told when exactly that is, but you can all agree that, like, that's the, like, holiday you're going for.
JULIA: And you know what's really helpful, Amanda? Is that on the calend, so on the first of every month, that was when— in case you couldn't remember like, "Oh, how many days is in April this year?" You would have, basically, like a town crier would go and announce what days the festivals and celebrations for that month were.
AMANDA: Gotcha. Makes sense.
JULIA: Isn't that helpful?
AMANDA: That is super helpful. Someone has to do it.
JULIA: Exactly, exactly. So most calends, which is again the first of the month, would have some sort of celebration. It would also be the day where all of the celebrations were announced. However, the Aprilis calends was particularly important because it was the festival of Veneralia, which would celebrate— do you want to guess which goddess?
AMANDA: I mean, just going with the first letter, we've talked about Venus, is it her?
JULIA: It is Venus.
AMANDA: Ay!
JULIA: So this would celebrate the goddess Venus in a particular form of hers, which was Venus Verticordia or Venus, the changer of hearts.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: This festival would also celebrate this other god who is Fortuna Virilis or the Manly Fortune. But Venus is sort of the, like, key goddess of the celebration.
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: Now, the origin of this festival is kind of super interesting, at least in my mind. So we know exactly when it was established, which is actually true of a lot of the festivals that we're going to be talking about.
AMANDA: Really?
JULIA: This one was particularly established in 220 BCE because we know that it was established after the proclamation of a Sibylline oracle. And that oracle declared that the gods had taken displeasure at the sexual activities of the Roman people.
AMANDA: Oh, shit.
JULIA: Regardless of category or class, but particularly they were pissed that several of the Vestal Virgins, we've talked about in previous episodes, had engaged in sexual activity outside of marriage and as part of their role.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: Annoying and bad, but leads to some interesting results. So as a result, the festival was started alongside this cult to Venus Verticordia. So in 220 BCE, a statue of Venus was dedicated by a young woman who had been chosen because she was considered the most "sexually pure" of all of the women in Rome.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: And a statue was erected inside the temple of Fortuna Virilis, which tied them both to this festival.
AMANDA: Fascinating.
JULIA: I also like the phrase erected when you're talking about Virilis and Venus.
AMANDA: It is really good and just really makes me think of how culture ebbs and flows because being like, "Hey, I heard you're the biggest virgin in this town," would be like an unimaginable insult to me when we were growing up.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. But in this case they were like, "We heard you're the best virgin in town." And she's like, "Oh, my God, thank you."
AMANDA: "Thank you so much."
JULIA: "Oh, my God. I appreciate it."
AMANDA: "I try really hard to be virginal, yeah."
JULIA: So this is really interesting. The name Venus Verticordia also came along with the festival and the emergence of this cult representing a "change of heart" in the goddess because she wanted to, according to the oracle, become more "moral" and wanted the people of Rome to cherish more "traditional sexual proprieties."
AMANDA: Okay. So what was traditional to them?
JULIA: Basically, sex in marriage. So no sex outside of marriage, but sex inside of marriage, good. And Venus likes that.
AMANDA: Wild how it's been literally 2,300 years and we're schilling the same schlock.
JULIA: Yeah, we are. We truly are. So what is interesting here is that she would go on to eventually get her own temple about 100 years later in 114 BCE, by which point she had become a particularly important goddess that reflected these societal changes towards what the ancient Romans considered morality and sexual propriety as dictated by the state. So on her festival day of Veneralia, her statue or image would be taken from her temple to the men's baths in town, which I think is interesting.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: There, they would undress it because I suppose either the statue or the cult image would be clothed in order for it to be ceremoniously undressed.
AMANDA: That is something we miss all the time, is like statues would have garlands and drapings and paint on it that we don't see from the, you know, marble and bare marble versions of these statues.
JULIA: Yeah, there— I've seen some great historical recreations of, like, statues of Julius Caesar as they would have been during the height of his reign.
AMANDA: Cool.
JULIA: And they're so gaudily painted. And it's really wonderful. We have to, again, blame the Victorians for, like, really idealizing this, like, pure white marble imagery, because that's not how the Romans actually treated their art.
AMANDA: Bummer.
JULIA: So she would be undressed and then she would be washed in warm water by her priestesses or attendants. And then after that, she would be garlanded in myrtle, which was associated with Venus because it has supposedly aphrodisiac quality.
AMANDA: But only if you're married. Don't sniff if you're single.
JULIA: So the statue then would be presented publicly or else returned to her temple where the Roman citizens would appeal to the goddess for assistance in matters of the heart, mainly around betrothal and marriage, but sometimes around sex, particularly sex in marriage as well. Now, I will say I do find that she is a particularly interesting version of Venus that became very popular during this period. To some extent, it is less about suppressing sexual desire and upholding, like, sexual "purity" in the form of, like, abstinence or celibacy, but it was more about pushing people of any rank or any creed within the Roman Empire towards sex in marriage, which the state considered beneficial for the entirety of society.
AMANDA: Yeah, I mean, it's a state-building project to endorse certain kinds of relationships and certain kinds of sex, particularly those that would create legal citizens to draft and vote or become workers in that national project.
JULIA: I will say this in our modern understanding feels derivative, right? But it is, at the time, kind of a step forward in some ways for women and their role in ancient Roman society, because this is exemplified by this idea of the, like, "change of heart" that Venus went through.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: It is Roman society acknowledging that women are able to shape the moral compass of society as much as men, albeit in different ways, because this is still ancient Rome, and men and women aren't actually equal in all of the ways. It's just they have their own spheres of influence.
AMANDA: Not quite what we're going for today, but you're right. That is notable that they are listening to a woman goddess and her feelings and insights via a woman prophetess on sexual conduct, particularly the very much state sanctified and male-led institution of marriage.
JULIA: Exactly. And I think that this being the first festival of the month is extremely interesting in comparison to the later festivals in the month that we'll talk about towards the end of this episode.
AMANDA: Ooh. Let's go.
JULIA: Because this is really exemplifying sex within marriage. And then later, a little spoiler for you, a lot of the festivals are, like, sex work. It's great.
AMANDA: Oh! Okay.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. We'll talk about that when we get there, though. So that's our first festival, an interesting one, though not like absolutely crazy in terms of the celebrations, right?
AMANDA: Yeah. Plenty of people are like, "Hey, it's May Day. Go have babies like the lambs, but only if you're married."
JULIA: So our next celebration, I think, sort of ups the ante a little bit, since now we're going to get some more, like, games and performances rather than just ritual bathing of a statue, right?
AMANDA: Which, side note, Julia, what's that just like a sexy show for the men at the men's baths as like the nubile young women priestesses like bathe the statue?
JULIA: I'm not entirely sure. I want to think no, mainly because most versions of the statues of Venus, she was nude.
AMANDA: Ah.
JULIA: So this wasn't like a, "Now, we're going to get to watch the Venus be unveiled and unbathed." No, it wasn't really like that.
AMANDA: Gotcha, gotcha.
JULIA: So our next one that we're going to talk about is Megalesia.
AMANDA: Ooh. Sounds like Pokémon.
JULIA: It does sound like a Pokémon. So this was celebrated from April 4th to April 10th, and this honored the goddess Cybele. Now, her name might sound familiar to you from Greek and Roman mythology. She is this, like, mother goddess who often got thrown into the mix in Greek mythology, along with like Rhea and Demeter and sometimes Gaia, right?
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: She's essentially like a Earth mother goddess. And—
AMANDA: I was just gonna say, "Earth Mommy?" And then I'm like, "Amanda, there's probably a way better way to put it," but I'm glad that we were on the right track.
JULIA: You're right. You're right. So what's really interesting about her is she actually predates ancient Greek worship and she was probably imported to Greece from Anatolia and then incorporated into the Greek canon as a result.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: So she ended up being associated by the Greeks with a really interesting dominion, in my opinion, which is the separation between the tame and the wild. So she is associated with mountains and fertile nature and wild animals, like particularly lions, but then also she's associated with town and city walls.
AMANDA: Julia, did you bring the liminal queen for my birthday?
JULIA: That is, that's her, that's her.
AMANDA: Thank you.
JULIA: So the Greeks, I think, liked her okay, you know? Reviews were sort of mixed. She was often overshadowed by other mother goddesses.
AMANDA: It's like a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes type of situation.
JULIA: Exactly. But, Amanda, let me tell you, 95 % for the Romans, they loved her.
AMANDA: Yes!
JULIA: They really adopted her in terms of her worship, and they referred to her as the Magna Mater or the great mother.
AMANDA: I mean, Rome was all about, like, raising up capital C, civilization from the wilds of the rest of Eurasia, right?
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: So, like, it makes total sense that the woman who can tame the lion and relate to it, but keep everybody else safe behind the city walls that you're paying taxes to erect, makes sense for what I know of ancient Rome.
JULIA: Now, I also really love that you brought up city walls because a reason that a Sibylline Oracle, and they're doing a lot of the work for these festivals, was like, we should be worshiping her more. We should be worshiping the Magna Mater because they believed that she was a specifically Trojan goddess.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: And as a result was therefore an ancestral goddess to the Romans. Because, again, going back to this sort of— like the Romans really wanted to tie themselves to the ancient Greeks of the past. They believed that they had a mythological lineage through the Trojan Prince Aeneas.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: So by saying, "Oh, this Trojan goddess that our ancient, ancient ancestor worshiped, we should be worshiping her again."
AMANDA: Fair enough.
JULIA: So, again, we know exactly when this started becoming a regular festival. It was in 191 BCE, which was when the Temple of Cybele was constructed. Though, we know that there were like sacred feasts and celebrations for her that dated back to 204 BCE.
AMANDA: I guess we are in the business of precise dates in this calendar-related episode, but I am loving all of the specific start dates.
JULIA: Yes. So once it started being celebrated regularly, the festival would include the performance of religious plays on the steps of her temple, and then a public procession of her image, which was then carried to the stadium, the Circus Maximus, which is where a bunch of chariot races would be held.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Now, part of the reason that the races were associated with her specifically was that from where her temple was, if you stood on the steps of her temple up on this hill, you could see the entirety of the racetrack.
AMANDA: Oh, fun.
JULIA: And so eventually, she became extremely associated with those chariot races to the point where they would eventually add a statue of her seated on a lion so that she could "watch" the races and bestow her favor on the winners.
AMANDA: Incredible. I hope someone made her adorable garlands in the style of, you know, big, like, race day hats. And I hope they have their version of a Moscow mule, you know?
JULIA: Ooh. yeah, maybe, maybe. A little mint julep situation. We'd love to see it.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: So another highlight of the festivities were performed only by the wealthy and noble Romans. So keep in mind, this was a week-long festival. So what would happen was a lot of the noble houses would take turns playing host to other ones sort of, like, in rotation, right? It's a real like Bridgerton who's hosting the ball this week kind of vibe.
AMANDA: Or, Julia, I know you know what I'm gonna say, that one Top Chef challenge where they were like, "Hey, go to a bunch of rich people's houses, one for the appetizer, one for the dinner, one for the dessert."
JULIA: That one sucked.
AMANDA: And the ladies are like, "I don't like spice." And their husbands are like, "I only eat hot sauce." And that's the whole challenge.
JULIA: Yeah. It was— it's very similar to that. And as a result, an extremely competitive affair, I would say.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: It's a real rich people love to judge other rich people's parties kind of thing.
AMANDA: Yes, they do.
JULIA: These were extremely lavish and costly parties. And if you were the person who managed to outdo all of your neighbors in these celebrations, then you were also expected to try to outdo yourself the following year.
AMANDA: Oh, damn, you can't rest on your laurels even if you win.
JULIA: No, not even a little bit. So the expenditures, Amanda, got so extreme that in 161 BCE, the Senate actually had to issue a decree limiting how much households could spend on wine, meat and silverware during Megalesia.
AMANDA: Damn. Wish we'd do that for, I don't know, political elections, but that's just me.
JULIA: You would hope. You would hope, right? They were just like, "We are spending so much money on wine. We can't keep doing this."
AMANDA: "Guys, you can't spend that much money on silverware. It's just not a good idea for, like, the Roman project."
JULIA: Right. Or just like— they're like, "No one has beef anymore because that one guy bought all of the beef in the entire city."
AMANDA: Seems like the job of a state to me, but who's asking?
JULIA: I don't know. So while Megalesia celebrations catered more to the rich and noble members of Roman society, Amanda, our next major festival was much more plebeian in its origins. And when I say that, I mean the literal definition of plebeian, which is, like, not the rich patricians of Roman society, but rather just the common people, right?
AMANDA: That's where I'm most comfortable. What are we getting into in the back half of the month?
JULIA: We are getting into Cerealia.
AMANDA: Oh, I like the name.
JULIA: As you might be able to guess by looking at the name or hearing the name, this major harvest festival celebrated Ceres, who is the grain goddess and the Roman equivalent to Demeter.
AMANDA: I just thought I was being silly hearing the word cereal in that festival name, but you're right, it's a cereal grain.
JULIA: That's where we get it from. You're absolutely right. So this was a mid to late-ish April festival with obviously agricultural origins. Those celebrations would eventually become more urban as the Roman Empire grew and consolidated around the city of Rome, right?
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: But as part of its agricultural origins had to do with the fact that Ceres is said to be the patron goddess of the plebeians, the common people were the ones who organized the event. They were specifically organized by the Aedile, who were the plebeian citizens, who were elected to be in charge of, like, roads and marketplaces, but also most importantly to the goddess, responsible for keeping the availability of grain to its citizens at reasonable prices.
AMANDA: A very important civil service kind of merchant class.
JULIA: Exactly, exactly. And because it was an elected position, too, it was a way of like sort of bringing your rank up higher without still, like, being essentially a class traitor, I would call it.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: So, like, many festivals, Cerealia featured games. Most of the particular types of games are lost to us through the passage of time and records, besides the fact that we know that they would do the traditional chariot and horse races. However, Ovid, in his recounting of the games, mentions races in which women would dress in white and then run with a lit torch.
AMANDA: Oh, shit.
JULIA: So, supposedly, this was supposed to be in reference to the Roman equivalent of Persephone, whose name was Proserpina, and this is like a reference as well to Ceres' search for her daughter after she is kidnapped to the Underworld.
AMANDA: Got it.
JULIA: There were also, of course, religious theatrical performances and there is reference to some of these theatrical performances handing out, like, commemorative coins to mark the occasion.
AMANDA: Oh, shit.
JULIA: Kind of, like, those pressed pennies—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —for when you go to various different theme parks and stuff like that.
AMANDA: So good.
JULIA: And, of course, there was feasting. Though interestingly, where most feasting in Roman festivals were done mainly by the patrician class, the higher ranking people. Cerealia was marked by exclusively plebeian banquets.
Amanda; Love it. Richies, you can't come even if you wanted to and your budgets are definitely still recovering from the one we just finished.
JULIA: Exactly. Now, there is a, like, sort of fucked up aspect of this festival, which I also think is interesting from a, like, scholarly perspective, I say, but also involves animal death and animal cruelty. If that is not your jam, I would suggest skipping forward a bit. And also as a little bit of a content warning, animal sacrifice does feature heavily in a lot of these festivals and will in the back half as well. So, hey, I will warn you ahead of time before we really discuss it. But if that's not your jam, totally understand.
AMANDA: All right. So what'd they get up to in this specific festival?
JULIA: So the festival was particularly usually initiated during this nighttime ritual in which live foxes were caught, their tails were set on fire.
AMANDA: Oh, boy.
JULIA: And then they were released to run either through a field in more rural settings or through the Circus Maximus in Rome, either until the fire went out or they passed away.
AMANDA: Now why on earth would humans do this?
JULIA: Now, this is supposedly a story that is linked by Ovid to a association with the god, Ceres. So in the story, a farm boy catches a fox trying to steal chickens and attempts to kill it by burning it. Now, the fox managed to escape, running through the fields with its tail alight, which set fire to the fields as well as their crops, right?
AMANDA: Oh, shit.
JULIA: So since both chickens and grain are sacred to the goddess Ceres, foxes were punished at her festival.
AMANDA: I see how A leads to B. Obviously, not a thing that we want to bring into the modern day, but that is—
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: —a relevant symbolic, you know, practice that was a part of this festival.
JULIA: And additionally, the symbolism has to do with the idea of, like, this was done in order to protect the crops from either disease or famine, or like quite literally the fire was bringing vitality or warmth to the crop for the following season.
AMANDA: Got it.
JULIA: Now, Amanda, I've got some other very cool festivals to tell you about, but before we get there, how about we grab our refill?
AMANDA: Let's do it.
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AMANDA: Hey, everybody, it's Amanda. And welcome to the refill. First and foremost, thank you so much to each and every one of you who support us on Patreon. We simply would not be here every single week, making your Wednesdays a little bit brighter, but also darker because spooky, without your support. So thank you, Sapphire Luralin, [30:26] who is our latest paying patron. We love you and we thank you. You should have your name read here on Spirits by becoming a member of our Patreon. Not only do you get shouted out by me or Julia here in the midroll, but you also get things like ad-free episodes. If you're like, "Hey, don't love advertisements, would love to listen to the show without them." There you go. You can do that. You can also get bonus urban legends episodes every dang month. We save lovely, tasty, amazing ones just for you, our paying patrons. You get director's commentary and recipe cards for every single episode. What's not to love, folks? Go on over to patreon.com/spiritspodcast to join. Starts just four bucks a month. That's cheap. Four bucks. Thank you as well to our supporting producer-level patrons, Uhleeseeuh, Hannah, Scott, Anne, Matthew, Lily, and Wil. And our legend-level patrons, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Audra, Sarah, Bea Me Up Scotty, Morgan, Bex, Rikoelike, Chibi Yokai, and Michael. Tons going on over at Multitude, very special announcements coming up soon, I gotta tell ya. And we would love to make sure that you share some love. Share the wealth, spread the wealth to our sibling show, American Medieval. This is a podcast about the Middle Ages with an American twist. hosted by Professor Matthew Gabriele, who is very good-natured about all of the dumb shit we talk about here at Multitude, and is an actual scholar of the medieval era. And so he tells us all about the medieval world, which is filled with a lot of stuff. It is fascinating. It is so relevant to life right now. And that is so funny. You are going to love this show, particularly if, like me, you are curious about why America thinks that itself is timeless and why it is never fully modern. So go on over to americanmedieval.com or look up American Medieval. That's M-E-D-I-E-V-A-L. If you were not a Neopets role-playing aficionado like me, American Medieval, new episodes every Wednesday. We are still donating our ad space to small businesses and mutual aid efforts in Minneapolis. You can find a list of fantastic places to donate at bit.ly/, M-N, podcastads, but I also want to shout out the fabulous Cafe Marguerite. This is a fabulous spot known for its warm atmosphere, freshly baked croissants, and locally roasted coffee, plus true commitment to community in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. You can specifically help them fund their no questions asked, no payment required community food and drink fund. If somebody comes in, they're hungry, they're thirsty. And there's a balance on this gift card that they have at the register, they serve their neighbor, period. You can help reload that gift card by going to cafe-marg.com, click Order Online, and then scroll right to the bottom where there is a section called Solidarity with Staff and Community. That's cafe-marg.com, and that link is also in the description.
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JULIA: Amanda, we are back. And for this cocktail, I found one that was associated with one of my favorite little phrases that I always remember from being a kid which is the, "April showers brings May flowers."
AMANDA: I do hear that.
JULIA: So this cocktail is literally called April Showers, and it really reminds me—
AMANDA: Aw.
JULIA: —of kind of all of the greenery that starts to come in with all of the rain that April brings because this is a nice floral cocktail with a little bit of a bitter ending which in my mind, makes me think of the refreshing sort of rains that happen in April. So this is a gin cocktail with a little bit of lemon juice, some agave, and some ruby grapefruit juice. And then appropriately, you can garnish this with some edible flowers, whether those are from your garden or just picked up at the store, whatever works for you. It's symbolism, baby. It's symbolism.
AMANDA: It's gorgeous, and nice and pink.
JULIA: So next up, we have a festival that was celebrated on the Ides of April and usually coincided with Cerealia, which is the fertility festival of Fordicidia.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: Now, this festival was in celebration of the goddess of the earth, Tellus, who is sometimes referred to as Terra. So if you hear that, like, embodiment of earth in Latin being Terra, that's what this is a reference to.
AMANDA: Terra firma, baby.
JULIA: And this was another festival specifically tied to farming and agriculture, but even more specifically towards animal husbandry and the fertility of livestock.
AMANDA: Matters a hell of a lot. And as we're getting into lamb in season, we gotta make the lambs get started.
JULIA: Well, actually, this one's particularly interesting because the name, since you can't tell— it doesn't come from Tellus or Terra, right? It comes from what was the main sacrifice being made for the festival. Again, I am sorry for the folks where animal death and sacrifice is a bit of a soft spot. Skip forward about a minute or so. So specifically, the type of cow that was being sacrificed. There was a particular name for it, and it was particularly a pregnant cow that needed to be sacrificed for this.
AMANDA: Yikes.
JULIA: So this comes from an oracular dream that was supposedly, like, had by this King Numa Pompilius during a time where Rome's crops were suffering really, really badly. So in the dream, the god Faunus comes to him and tells him, "By the death of cattle king, Tellus must be placated to cows, that is. Let a single heifer yield two lives for the rights."
AMANDA: That's very specific.
JULIA: That is very specific, I will say. So the sacrifice was then burned and then the ashes were mixed with the ashes of stalks from beans that had been harvested that year and then would later be saved for another festival that we're going to talk about, which is Parilia. So Parilia, we're skipping right ahead into Parilia because they are very intrinsically linked. So Parilia was a festival all about shepherds and sheep. So we go from animal husbandry to specifically about shepherds and sheep. So this festival was performed on April 21st and was focused on the Roman deity Pales, who is the patron deity of shepherds and sheep. Now, Pales is kind of cool being a sort of, like, loose equivalent to Pan, but a little bit more ruralized rather than wild. Like Pan was very much like a, you know, sort of wild, drunken, animal sort of satyr spirit in Greek mythology. Pales is a little bit more like, "I'm just a little shepherd out here in the— not woods, but the fields and whatnot."
AMANDA: Like Maybe little unkempt, but does sleep in a bed more often than not.
JULIA: Probably. And what's also really interesting about Pales is their gender is super ambivalent.
AMANDA: Really?
JULIA: Yeah. Some authors refer to Pales as a woman. Some of them refer to them as a man. Sometimes they're interpreted as being twin brother and sister.
AMANDA: Cool.
JULIA: So I— personally, I just love to see a gender ambivalent deity out here tending to the sheep and livestock. And, Amanda, honestly, not the only gender ambivalent god that we're going to talk about in this episode.
AMANDA: You know, I think more gender expansive, agender, non-binary people should be left the fuck alone to do whatever they want. And so I love the idea of a, you know, agender or gender ambivalent person being like, "It's me and the sheep, and everyone else can leave me alone. And that's what I'm doing."
JULIA: The sheep don't care what my gender is.
AMANDA: Nope, they care. They're getting fed.
JULIA: Exactly. So there were two different types of celebration when it came to Parilia. There was the rural kind and there was the urban kind, as you can probably imagine. Now, the rural was more traditional and was typically done by a shepherd himself for him and his flock. So in that case, the sheep pen would be decorated with wreaths and green branches. And then they would build a bonfire at dawn inside of the sheep pen.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: Now, it would begin with the shepherd leaping over the bonfire and then leading his flock kind of behind him to jump over it as well, which represented sort of, like, the cleansing of the flock.
AMANDA: Interesting. Seems very high stakes.
JULIA: Yes. You're like, "Okay, everyone, be safe."
AMANDA: Be cool, yeah.
JULIA: "Be cool. Don't catch fire." So the shepherd would leap over the flock would as well. And then after that, food was offered up to Pales, including like cakes and milk and millet.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: The shepherd would then wet their hands with the morning dew, do a little praying, and then consume a drink that was called Burranica, which was a combination of milk and boiled wine.
AMANDA: Huh. Okay. So like a boozy strawberry milk.
JULIA: Oh, God. That sounds terrible. That sounds really bad. I think because it was boiled, it wouldn't be alcoholic, right?
AMANDA: I guess it depends how long it was boiled for, maybe?
JULIA: Yeah, yeah.
AMANDA: Not— I mean, listen, this does not sound like the greatest combination of things to me, but I am no shepherd.
JULIA: But then you— like so their stomach is filled—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —with milk and boiled wine and then they have to jump over the fire three more times, and then it was done.
AMANDA: Is this meant to make us not drink for the rest of the year? Because I think that's what that would do to me.
JULIA: I don't know. I simply don't know. Who could possibly say?
AMANDA: Love the symbolism though.
JULIA: Unsurprisingly, the urban festival, a little bit different from that, so the bonfire festivities would be carried out by a priest rather than the shepherd himself. And those remaining ashes from Fordicidia would then be added to the bonfire as part of these urban celebrations.
AMANDA: Makes sense. You're making it little more adaptable, a little more portable.
JULIA: Exactly. Now, what I think is interesting is as Rome became more urbanized as the central city of the empire, the celebration of Parilia became entwined with our next festival as well, which is the Dies Romana or the celebration of the birthday of Rome.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: Now, as Ovid tells it, Parilia got tied to the birthday of Rome through one of those Rome founding myths, right? There's a variety of different versions of the tale. Essentially what you need to know, as Amanda kind of pointed out earlier, is Rome was technically founded by these two brothers, Romulus and Remus. They were the sons of the war god Mars, who were said to have been suckled by a she-wolf and then raised by a shepherd named Faustulus before they ended up growing up and taking revenge on their mortal great uncle.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Now, they went on after that to establish their own city. They quarreled over the details and as a result, depends on who did the actual killing, but Remus dies, Romulus becomes the founder of Rome.
AMANDA: City's not called Reem, Julia, it's called Rome.
JULIA: Nope. Imagine if it was called Reem though.
AMANDA: Very odd, and I think there'll be a lot more T-shirts with a strange busting down the gate metaphors.
JULIA: Huh, okay. All right.
AMANDA: Reaming you out, you know? Reaming it in.
JULIA: Oh, okay.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah, maybe, maybe. So in this version of the story, Romulus and Remus found the land that would become Rome on the day of Parilia. Now, Romulus took a stick and began to draw the lines in the ground that would become the boundaries of his new city and then prayed to the gods to ask for their protection. However, after he had done that and after Romulus had essentially, like, gotten a foreman to start building the walls, Remus crossed over the boundaries, not realizing what they were, and was killed by the man that Romulus had appointed to oversee the building of the wall.
AMANDA: Oh, damn.
JULIA: Yes, it was like a weird kind of, like, miscommunication situation. And then this guy, I think, overreacted a little bit.
AMANDA: I'd say.
JULIA: So really, like, the only reason that the association between Parilia and the Dies Romana, the celebration of the birthday of Rome is that, like, these things all happened to happen on that day.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: Now, part of this, I think from a historical perspective, though, is that they needed to transition the importance of this day, this festival day, into a more urban understanding of the celebration, because Parilia is an extremely rural festival, but they still needed to celebrate it somehow in the more urban aspects of the Roman Empire, because the Romans were very traditional. They did not like to abandon any tradition, but they would mold it to fit their new needs, right?
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: So as Parilia grew to incorporate the Dies Romana, new aspects of the festival were eventually added. So for example, Julius Caesar added games to the ceremony, more races, more stuff like that. And then religious processions were added eventually. And then over time, this sort of, like, rural importance of the festival faded and it became more about like, "Look how cool Rome is, it's our birthday."
AMANDA: I can definitely relate to not really knowing why we're having a celebration, but that— this is how we celebrate. There's some games, there's some feasting, there's some parading, there's some laurels, there's some praying. And why we're doing it, less important over time.
JULIA: So this was really codified in 121 CE when the Emperor Hadrian built a new temple to Venus and Roma. So like the literal personification of the Empire of Rome and then officially declared that the holiday was going to be changed from Parilia to Romaea. And so the holiday became Romaea.
AMANDA: All right.
JULIA: Now, this is not the end of harvest festivals that are celebrated in April, Amanda.
AMANDA: I guess we're harvesting our winter crops?
JULIA: We certainly are. And you know what winter crop is, like, particularly important?
AMANDA: Wheat?
JULIA: Wheat, yes, but we had Cerealia already. What's another thing that, you know, Romans seem to love?
AMANDA: I mean, wine.
JULIA: Hell yeah. Next up we have Vinalia.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: So this was held in honor of Jupiter and once again, our goddess Venus making an appearance.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: So this was held on April 23rd and was the festival specifically for the wine harvest. It's kind of like the beginning of the harvest for the wine rather than the end of the harvest for the wine. And you'll see there's actually really interesting— there are technically two different types of this festival that were celebrated, Vinalia Rustica, which was actually instead held on August 19th and essentially just meant like rustic Vinalia, right?
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: And then it was done on August 19th before the harvest and when the grapes were being pressed, right?
AMANDA: Got it.
JULIA: And then there was Vinalia Prima, which was also known as Vinalia Urbana, which was held in April on the 23rd and was primarily done to bless and sample the previous year's wine, as well as appealing to the gods for good weather for the next harvest.
AMANDA: You're wetting the appetites and getting into wine season.
JULIA: Exactly, exactly. So I mentioned this was held in honor of Jupiter and Venus, and that's because the two gods were tied to specific types of wine that were made.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: Now, Venus, for example, was the patroness of what was considered "profane" wine. So this was the kind of wine that everyday people would drink, right?
AMANDA: Sign me up.
JULIA: The reason Venus is associated with that is for the Romans, it was pretty clear that wine led to lowered inhibitions, which led to intoxication and sex. And so they were like, "Venus, we know this is what you're into."
AMANDA: "Hey, Venus, I heard you're really into lowered inhibitions and sex. Do you want some wine?"
JULIA: Exactly, exactly.
AMANDA: Why not?
JULIA: Meanwhile, Jupiter was the patron of something called Tometum, which was the strongest and purest wines that were produced, which were specifically made as sacrificial wine. This particular honor was bestowed on him because of his association with the weather. And as such, he's the reason why the grapes for the wine could be harvested in the first place, right?
AMANDA: Got it.
JULIA: Now, as part of the celebrations for Vinalia Urbana, the sacrificial wine would be poured as an offering outside of Venus' temple as part of the festival rites. Also, what I think is interesting to me, at least, and again, this is sort of going from the version of Venus that we saw at the beginning of April and now going to this version of Venus, which is women. Mainly plebeian women and sex workers would then gather at Venus' temple, offering up sacrifices of myrtle and mint and asking the goddess to bestow on them stuff like beauty and charm and wit.
AMANDA: Right on.
JULIA: Now, I would also at some point like to talk about the Vinalia Rustica, which happens in August, like I mentioned, but this is the April Festivals episode. So I don't know, maybe we'll just have to do some more festival episodes in the near future. Who can say?
AMANDA: Love it.
JULIA: Next up, again, another harvest festival. Would you believe? However, in comparison, this one is a little dark to the others that we talked about so far. So this is Robigalia. So this was held on April 25th. It was named for the god Robigus, who is a lesser known god by our modern understanding, right? So, Amanda, once again, The gender of Robigus, who is also sometimes known as Robigo, is somewhat ambiguous.
AMANDA: Huh.
JULIA: Robigus suggests that it might have been a masculine name. Robigo suggests feminine. But regardless of what gender we're talking about here, they were said to protect from various different types of blights and funguses that would destroy a harvest. Specifically, they were associated with one that was known as wheat rust.
AMANDA: Oh, absolutely, fuck rust on the houseplants. That sucks.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. It's bad. It's bad. So as such, this festival was designed as a way of appeasing the deity so that the grain fields would flourish and not be impacted by disease. So this— while it is a festival, was really sort of a— an anxious sort of festival. Like it is really sort of defined by the anxiety around, "If this happens, we're totally fucked."
AMANDA: Never a great place to be making any kind of decisions from of just, like, the panic over the worst-case scenario. Now, you said this festival was dark. What specifically? Where did we go with this?
JULIA: Yes. Okay. So because this god was associated with something so destructive, like it could literally starve the empire if they were not appeased.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: There are some ties to types of rights that were often made to Chthonic deities, like Hecate.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: And part of that connection is what would typically be sacrificed as part of Robigalia. And again, animal sacrifice, if it's a sensitive topic, especially if you're a pet owner for this one.
AMANDA: Ah.
JULIA: Skip ahead about 30 seconds or so. So, Robigalia was usually marked by the sacrifice of a female dog, particularly a red dog, as that color is associated with the deity, and the same color of wheat rust that the Romans were attempting to stave off. So, the Chthonic tie here as well is that Hecate was associated with dogs and would often have them sacrificed to her as well. So besides these sacrifices, chariot races were also a feature of this festival. What I like about these particular races were they were sort of classed, like, Major League and Minor League.
AMANDA: Ooh.
JULIA: So the Minor League races were like horse chariots that only had two horses. And then—
AMANDA: Ah.
JULIA: —the major leagues were like, "You can handle four horses now."
AMANDA: Yeah. Double the horsepower, baby!
JULIA: Exactly, exactly. So I thought that was really fun that they have, like, Major Leagues and Minor Leagues for this.
AMANDA: Adorable. Also, Julia, just so you know, King Charles, the horse racing and chariot racing that he's into is the little dinky kind with just two horses.
JULIA: Boo! Boo that man!
AMANDA: Boo.
JULIA: So this festival also coincided with another celebration for, again, a lesser acknowledged group of people, I would say, which is sex workers.
AMANDA: Always been there, always will, not often a form of labor that is compensated or respected, certainly not venerated. So I'm glad to see that they're involved.
JULIA: Yes. And specifically this celebrated the work of sex workers who would work out of a brothel and the protections at the time that would come from that and were considered "professionals" with a certain amount of standing and rank in society.
AMANDA: Yeah, not a freelancer.
JULIA: So animal sacrifice, not good. Acknowledging that sex work is work and should be upheld, love that for us.
AMANDA: Julia, that's a platform I can get behind.
JULIA: And then finally, Amanda. Our last festival ends April and brings us into the beginning of May, which feels appropriate for us to end this episode out with, and that is the Festival of Floralia.
AMANDA: Floralia? Is this all about pretty flowers?
JULIA: Exactly. As the name suggests, this is a festival celebrating the goddess Flora, who is the goddess of flowers, fertility and vegetation.
AMANDA: Hell yeah.
JULIA: So whereas Robigalia was a somewhat anxious sort of festival, I mentioned, Florelia is, I would say, sexier, looser, more fun.
AMANDA: Let's go. Some of my favorite adjectives.
JULIA: Her worship started when her temple was built in 241 BCE after a drought really threatened the Roman harvest. And at first, this was a festival that was celebrated only occasionally, sort of as a as needed thing, according to Flora's priesthood. But when several years of crop damage occurred, the celebration became an annual one in 173 BCE.
AMANDA: Makes sense. You skip the preventative care too many times and it becomes a problem. So let's just be safe, throw it on a calendar every year.
JULIA: Exactly. Hey, if you have health care and you can go to your doctor every year, you absolutely should. And if every year you can make a sacrifice to the goddess Flora, you absolutely should.
AMANDA: What are we sacrificing?
JULIA: First off, what we love about this is several of the ones that I've mentioned before, single day festivals. Only a couple have been multiple days.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: And Floralia is one of those ones that took place over six days. So it started in April and it ended on May 3rd, and it featured a lot of different types of celebrations, I would say. The festival would often start with a ceremonial release of hares and goats. Hares as in, like, the rabbit-esque animal and goats.
AMANDA: I was really picturing people undoing their braids all at the same time and, like, shaking out the hair.
JULIA: Oh, oh.
AMANDA: Which would also be fun, but rabbits are also chill.
JULIA: Well, Amanda, you might not be totally off there. The dress code, unlike, for example, Cerealia, which, like, required people to wear all white.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: They wanted the dress code to be as vibrant and colorful as possible because, again, we're celebrating the flower goddess. It makes sense.
AMANDA: You better come correct and adorned or don't come at all. Of course, there were the classic religious theatrical performances, there were plenty of races and games, but perhaps most interestingly is that sex workers once again get into the mix with Floralia.
AMANDA: Spring is springin', the buds are opening, other things, if you're lucky and can pay and be respectful, will open as well.
JULIA: So, supposedly they participated in games that were specifically designed for them, including mock gladiatorial battles.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: As well as performing dances while naked for the crowds.
AMANDA: I mean, they're the ones who know how to do it.
JULIA: Presumably these were all, like, they opted into these things, especially because the festival was a celebration specifically about fertility.
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: Makes sense. Also, the viewing crowds would then get thrown a variety of different flowers, but also beans.
AMANDA: Oh!
JULIA: Because they were symbols of fertility, so you'd get a bunch of beans thrown at you and then also like bluebonnets.
AMANDA: Shower me the flowers, but also something fucking useful like beans. Thank you.
JULIA: Yeah. Exactly. And then what I really like about these games, Amanda, is they were paid for by fines that were collected when the public lands were encroached upon by those trying to exploit the land for their own benefit.
AMANDA: We've solved it. That's what we need.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Incredibly sexy.
AMANDA: That's what we need. Like how the lotto pays for theater tickets for kids in most of Europe but not in America.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: I think we need a lot more of that.
JULIA: Doesn't the New York State Lotto claim that it goes to, like, schools or something?
AMANDA: Everything claims a lot of things.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: But I think that more often we should have people who disrespect the public good pay for public revelry.
JULIA: To be honest, like this was the ideal situation.
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: It didn't always work out. A lot of times like public lands, like the rich could rent them, but the poor couldn't, et cetera, et cetera. But still, this is an ideal version that I think is a practice that we should be lifting up here.
AMANDA: I love it.
JULIA: So overall, these six days of games of Flora were a boisterous and loud affair as the planting season sort of ends here, right? And you can see that the importance of the harvest as we look back on all of these festivals that we talked about in this episode was extremely important and extremely big for the Romans. I brought this to you also, Amanda, knowing that you are starting your garden soon. You're starting to grow your seeds. You're starting to get things potted and sprouted and planting. And I was hoping that maybe you could think about your own planting season and maybe take some of these practices, minus the animal sacrifice, and incorporate them into your gardening practices.
AMANDA: I think this is fabulous. I am going to, you know, pour a nice glass of wine. I'm going to open up my bean seeds and plant a few, but maybe chuck a couple others at, I don't know, a performer that I appreciate. But I love this idea. I love the fact that for, again, all of human history, we have been saying, "Man, that winter was long. Man, I hope the garden grows well. Man, I hope we have enough. And let's do what we can, worry a little bit, but also have some fun this spring."
JULIA: That's such a beautiful note to end on, but now all I can think of is going to a drag show and throwing beans at the performers. Don't do that! Don't do that.
AMANDA: I mean, don't do that, but also if you want to tip a drag queen with, like, a big package of like dried heirloom beans, they'd probably take it, you know, money, but also beans.
JULIA: Okay. Maybe wrap the beans in a $20 bill and then hand it to them.
AMANDA: Okay. Drag kings, queens, and performers in the audience, weigh in. Would you prefer a 20 or 20 and some heirloom beans?
JULIA: I think more is always better in my opinion, at least.
AMANDA: Same.
JULIA: Well, Amanda, I'm so glad. Now everyone can think about that as they start to go to their springtime drag shows.
AMANDA: Yep.
JULIA: And remember the next time that you're thinking about the best ways to celebrate the month, stay creepy.
AMANDA: Stay cool.
JULIA: Later, Satyrs.
AMANDA: And always tip.
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