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Parentalia

In ancient Rome, the Parentalia or dies parentales (“an-

cestral days”) was a nine-day festival held in honor of fam-

ily ancestors, beginning February 13.[1]

Although the Parentalia was a holiday on the Roman re-

ligious calendar, its observances were mainly domestic

and familial.[2] The importance of the family to the Ro-

man state, however, was expressed by public ceremonies

on the opening day, the Ides of February, when a Vestal

conducted a rite for the collective di parentes  of Rome at

the tomb of Tarpeia.[3]

Ovid   describes sacred offerings (sacrificia) of flower-

garlands, wheat, salt, wine-soaked bread and violets to

the “shades of the dead” (Manes   or  Di manes ) at fam-

ily tombs, which were located outside Rome’s sacred

boundary ( pomerium). These observances were meant to

strengthen the mutual obligations and protective ties be-

tween the living and the dead, and were a lawful duty of

the paterfamilias  (head of the family).[4] Parentalia con-

cluded February 21 in the midnight rites of Feralia, when

the   paterfamilias   addressed the malevolent, destructive

aspects of his Manes.

Feralia was a placation and exorcism: Ovid thought

it a more rustic, primitive and ancient affair than the

Parentalia itself. It appears to have functioned as a cleans-

ing ritual for   Caristia   on the following day, when the

family held an informal banquet to celebrate the amity

between themselves and their benevolent ancestral dead

(Lares ).[5] The emphasis on collective cult for the Manes

and early  di parentes  implies their afterlife as vague and

lacking individuation. In later cult they are vested with

personal qualities, and in Imperial cult, they acquire di-

vine numen and become divi , divine entities.[6]

From Parentalia to Caristia all temples were closed, mar-

riages were forbidden, and “magistrates appeared with-

out their insignia,” an indication that no official business

was conducted.   William Warde Fowler  describes the

Parentalia as “practically a yearly renewal of the rite of

burial”.[7]

Individuals might also commemorated on their birthday

(dies natalis ). Some would be commemorated through-

out the year on marked days of the month, such as the

Kalends,  Nones or  Ides, when lamps might be lit at the

tomb.[8] The Lemuria on May 9, 11, and 13 was aimed at

appeasing “kinless and hungry” spirits of the dead.[9]

1 See also

•   Jesa, ancestral rites of Korea

•  Roman funerals and burial

2 Notes

[1]   Mary Beard, J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price,  Religions of 

Rome: A History  (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p.50; Stefan Weinstock,  Divus Julius   (Oxford, 1971), pp.

291-6.

[2] Beard et al., Religions of Rome, p. 50.

[3]   William Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period 

of the Republic   (London, 1908), p. 306 (1899 Internet

Archive edition available.

[4] Ovid, Fasti , 2.537-539. Ibid 2.534 for manes ; W. Warde

Fowler, The Roman festivals of the period of the Republic ,

p. 306, cites Festus' di manes  as a placatory euphemism:

some Manes were to be feared.

[5] Ovid, Fasti , 2.677. Fowler,  Roman Festivals,  p. 309, hasritualistically clothed statues of the  Lares  at this “sacred

meal.”

[6] Duncan Fishwick,   The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: 

Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the

Roman Empire, vol 1, 1991, 1, 51.

[7] Fowler, Roman Festivals , p. 308.

[8] J.M.C. Toynbee,  Death and Burial in the Roman World 

(Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971, 1996), pp.61–64.

[9] Toynbee, “Death and Burial in the Roman World, p. 64.

1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lareshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextus_Pompeius_Festushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Warde_Fowlerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Warde_Fowlerhttp://www.archive.org/stream/romanfestivalsof00fowluofthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archivehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archivehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Warde_Fowlerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Beard_(classicist)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_funerals_and_burialhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuria_(festival)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_(calendar)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nones_(calendar)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalendshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion#dies_natalishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Warde_Fowlerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion#divushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_cult_(ancient_Rome)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lareshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caristiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feraliahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paterfamiliashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomeriumhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovidhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpeiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestal_Virginhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_calendar#Monthshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_calendarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_calendarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_festivalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome

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2   3 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 

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