The Cerealia or games of Ceres (ludi cereales) were festivals celebrated in Rome in honor of Ceres. The principal festival of this cult, called Cerealia, or ludi Cereris, ludi Cereales, was celebrated at first only on extraordinary occasions; later it took place every year from April 12 to 19. Then the return of Proserpina to earth was celebrated, as it was known especially by the legends from the city of Enna in Sicily. It was therefore an essentially joyful celebration, and everyone, in those days, dressed in white.
The Cerealia or games of Ceres (ludi cereales)
The memory of the invention of agriculture was at the bottom of this legend, and therefore no bloody sacrifice was offered at this festival, with the exception of a sow, which was sacrificed to Ceres, as was done to the ancient telluric divinities of the Romans. An offering of two pigs, in gold and silver, is mentioned by Festus, but usually honey cakes, with milk, incense, and lighted torches were enough. Dionysius of Halicarnassus maintains that wine was not admitted, but he is contradicted by Virgil and his scholiast.
After the sacrifices came the games, which lasted for several days. It was customary on this occasion for the plebeians to invite the patricians who in turn invited them to the Megalesia (festivals of Cybele). The last day of the festival, April 19, was the brightest. In the countryside, it was celebrated with a procession around the fields. In the city, this procession went to the circus.
The people thronged there in crowds, throwing handfuls of nuts and sweets at each other. Then came horse races and a hunt for foxes that carried lighted torches tied to their tails. This singular custom was related to a disease of wheat called robigo, rust, which it was thought to prevent in this way.
A second festival belonging to the sacra publica in honor of Ceres, and named sacrum anniversarium Cereris, was instituted shortly before the Second Punic War: it fell in the month of August, a few days after the anniversary of the Battle of Cannae. This battle, fought on August 2, 216, had plunged the whole city into such great mourning that it was then necessary to postpone the festival for thirty days. Only women were present and prepared for it by abstaining for nine days. Dressed in white and adorned with a crown of ears of corn, they went to offer the first fruits of the fields to the goddess.
The same cult is linked to a fast, called jejunium Cereris, instituted in -191, according to an indication of the books Sibylline. It was first celebrated every five years, later every year, on the fourth day of October. This festival thus corresponded to the thesmophoria greek.
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On this day and for a week, the Romans celebrated the games of Ceres (Demeter). The Greeks and Romans celebrated the return of Proserpine to earth, everyone, in those days, dressed in white. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #April 12 #rome #athens
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