Fornacalia February 5

Ovid wrote that "the oven was made of a goddess, Fornax: the farmers, pleased with her, prayed that she would regulate the heat of the grain." It was held in early February on different dates in different curiae, which, at the time of the Roman monarchy and the Roman Republic, were the thirty districts of the city of Rome. It was proclaimed each year by the curio maximus, who was a priest who was the head of the curia.

He announced the different part that each curia was to take in the celebration of the feast; "Now the Curio Maximus, in a definite form, declares the changing date of the Fornacalia, the feast of the ovens, and around the Forum are hung many tablets, on which each parish displays its own sign."

It is believed that each family in the curia brought spelt (a type of grain) to be roasted in the assembly hall and sacrificed to ensure that the bread in the home ovens would not be burnt the following year. The last day of this festival was the quirinalia, which was also jokingly nicknamed the "feast of fools".

All the curiae gathered on this day for a collective feast. Those who did not know which curia they belonged to could participate in its rites; "Foolish people do not know which parish is theirs, so they organize the feast on the last possible day."

This tradition indicates that later, membership in a curia was of little importance to most Romans, so much so that some people did not know which curia they belonged to; the curia included all citizens, and every Roman citizen belonged to a curia, even if he did not know which one it was.