Roman Festivals and Their Celebrations
Three Great Roman Festivals
The Roman calendar was packed with days set aside for the gods. A festival could be solemn or riotous, held in public view or hidden from it entirely. This lesson looks at three major Roman festivals: the Lupercalia, a February rite of purification; Bona Dea, a secret women’s festival; and Saturnalia, Rome’s midwinter celebration of gifts and role reversal.
Lupercalia: Purification and Fertility
Held every year on 15 February, the Lupercalia was widely understood as a festival of purification. Ancient writers disagreed about exactly where it began, but agreed it was very old. Some linked it to an Ancient Greek wolf festival, the Lykaia, said to have been brought to Italy by the Arcadian king Evander; others connected it instead to the she-wolf that suckled the abandoned twins Romulus and Remus.
The rites themselves were described consistently across the sources. Goats were sacrificed at the Lupercal, and two boys from noble families had their foreheads touched with the bloody knife before it was wiped clean with wool soaked in milk — at which point the boys were required to laugh. The goat skins were then cut into thongs, and young men called the Luperci ran almost naked through the city, striking anyone they met — especially young married women, who believed the blows would help them conceive and deliver safely.
The Lupercalia’s rites included a goat and a dog sacrificed at the Lupercal; two noble boys touched with a bloodied knife then wiped clean with milk-soaked wool, after which they had to laugh; and the Luperci running near-naked through Rome, striking bystanders — especially women hoping to conceive — with strips of goat hide.
Plutarch offers two rival explanations for the same rites. He first connects the festival to the Ancient Greek Lykaia, brought to Italy by Evander’s Arcadian followers. He then offers a second: that the ceremonies imitate Romulus and Remus running joyfully back to the spot where the she-wolf had nursed them, after defeating the tyrant Amulius — so the bloodied knife recalls the danger of that day, and the milk recalls the twins’ nourishment.
Ovid gives yet another account. He explains that the god Pan, also called Faunus, once tried to seduce Hercules’ lover Omphale in the dark, not realising the couple had swapped clothes — and was humiliated when he touched Hercules instead. Ovid claims this is why the Luperci run naked, since Faunus hates being deceived by clothing, and why a goat, sacred to Faunus, is sacrificed at the festival.
Bona Dea: A Festival for Women Only
The Bona Dea, meaning “the Good Goddess”, was worshipped only by women. “Bona Dea” is a title rather than a name: her real name is uncertain, so this title was used instead. She had two festivals: one on 1 May, open to women of every class, and a far more exclusive nocturnal rite on 3 December, held at the house of a serving magistrate and led by the women of his household together with the Vestal Virgins.
Men were banned absolutely from the December rite, and every male image in the house had to be covered. The ceremony began with a sacrifice, followed by dancing and the drinking of strong wine — though out of discretion the wine was called “milk” and its jar the “honey pot”. Because groups of upper-class women were meeting at night to drink and dance unsupervised, some Roman men viewed the festival with real suspicion.
The December rite of Bona Dea excluded men completely and covered all male images in the house. Because it involved upper-class women drinking wine and dancing at night without men present, some Romans suspected it was really a cover for misbehaviour such as adultery.
Cicero’s letters record a real scandal in 62 BC, when a man disguised in women’s clothing infiltrated the rite being held at Julius Caesar’s house. The Vestal Virgins had to repeat the whole sacrifice, the senate referred the matter to the Vestals and the pontifices, who ruled it sacrilege, and Caesar divorced his wife as a result.
The satirist Juvenal paints a far more scandalous picture, describing the women as drunk and howling to be joined by men. His account should be read with caution: he was writing satire to shock his audience, not recording fact, and Cicero’s calmer, contemporary letter is the more reliable source for what the rite actually involved.
Saturnalia: Rome’s Winter Festival
The Saturnalia honoured the god Saturn at his temple in the Forum. Originally a single day, by the late Republic it had grown into a week of celebration, running from 17 to 23 December. The state paid for a huge public banquet on the first day, and shops and businesses closed so that everyone in Rome could take part.
Saturnalia also had a private side. Families held their own feasts and exchanged gifts, sometimes distributed by lot, as the poet Martial’s list of joke and useful presents shows — a parasol, an oxtail brush, even a pig. For one day of the festival, enslaved members of a household became masters: they were waited on by their own owners, and generous masters gave them gifts and time off. In the streets, Romans greeted each other with cries of Io — a shout of joy — or simply called out Saturnalia!
During Saturnalia, enslaved members of a household became masters for a day and were waited on by their owners; generous masters also gave gifts and time off, and even Cato the Elder gave his slaves extra wine.