Ancient Roman Holidays & Festivals
Last updated
III Aprilis 2007
Compitalia – Late December or Early January
Originally the Compitalia was a movable feast, one of the most important of the
Feriae Conceptivae, whose dates were fixed by various
presiding authorities including the consuls, praetor, priestly
colleges or minor religious or political dignitaries. During the early
Empire, its dates were fixed at Januarius 3rd to 5th. The president
of each insula would sacrifice a hen on a temporary altar at the
local crossroads. This signaled the beginning of three days of
celebration.
But it was in the country, where the festival probably had its origin, that
each landowner would build a small shrine with altar
at the boundary with his neighbor. There he placed a plough and a wooden
doll for each person in his household. The festival the next day was
inaugurated by a sacrifice which purified the farm for the coming year.
As part of the celebration, slaves were given extra rations including wine
and the foreman in charge of the estate (the vilicus) and his wife
deigned to dine with them. In this it shared characteristics with the
Saturnalia and it may be that originally the landowner
would celebrate Saturnalia with his slaves in Rome and then Compitalia with
the slaves on his estate. Later the vilicus probably came to represent
the master.
That the Compitalia was one of the most important festivals can be seen
from the fact that it was one of the few that Macrobius reported as still
being observed in the fourth century AD. It may have a more modern successor
in ceremonial blessings of the fields.
Latin Festival – Early in the year
This was one of the more important Feriae Conceptivae, whose dates were
fixed by various presiding authorities including the consuls, praetor, priestly
colleges or minor religious or political dignitaries.
The Latin Festival lasted 3-4 days and had to take place early in the year since
it required that the consuls still be in Rome prior to leaving on campaign.
Agonalia – January 9
Festival to Janus, god of gates and doorways.
There seem to be many different legends about the history of Janus.
One has him the son of Uranus and Hecate.
Another says he had a son named Tiberinus whose accidental drowning named Roma's river.
According to another he was a son of Apollo and the first king of Latium.
His colony near the Tiber is supposed to have given the name to
the Janiculum Hill.
Another story says that Janus
welcomed Saturn to earth after the latter was driven out of Olympia by Zeus.
Janus was very important in Rome because the weakest point in any
building or municipality is its doorway. Anything from human enemies to evil
spirits could enter via that route. So strong was this feeling that Romans
always carried corpses out of buildings feet first so that the departed spirits
would be less likely to find their way back in.
In 260 BC the Romans built an important gateway temple to Janus after a victory against
the previously unbeatable Carthaginian fleet. This was left
open in times of war and closed when the armies had returned to the city.
This seems puzzling since one would think that during war the gate would be closed
for protection and left open for peacetime. But
the meaning of this can be seen in that the gateway was not used on a regular
basis, but only for generals marching out to war and when returning in
a triumphal procession. During the time the gateway was open, Janus was out
fighting for Rome while when it was closed it meant that the god would not
abandon Rome.
Januarius
was not always the first month of the year.
Earlier it had begun, perhaps more sensibly, in March (Martius) with the onset of Spring.
Januarius and Februarius were added by Numa Pompilius, one of Rome's kings in the
pre-Republic days.
He also moved the beginning of the
year to Januarius and
set the number of days equal to 29 because Romans considered odd numbers lucky.
Notice that all of the festivals are held on odd-numbered days.
Centuries later Julius Caesar set the length to 31, as well as adding days elsewhere
to fix the problem of the months no longer corresponding to the seasons, a result of
the fact that the Roman year was shorter than the actual solar year.
If the first month is seen as the gateway to a new year, naming it after Janus
(the -ary means "pertaining to") actually makes sense.
His most common depiction is of a head with two faces, one looking back, the other forward.
Carmentalia – January 11, 15
Festival to Carmentis, the prophetess and
mother of Evander, later seen a goddess of childbirth.
Ides –
January 13,
February 13,
March 15,
April 13,
May 15,
June 13,
July 15,
August 13,
September 13,
October 15,
November 13,
December 13
Festival to Jupiter.
The March observance had originally been the New Year's Day, festival to Anna Perenna,
the goddess of the year, and was a general holiday.
People would lay about on the river bank north of the city or in tents and drink
heavily. It was said that one should have a drink for each further year of life one
wanted to live.
The May observance also saw merchants paying homage to Mercury as it was the founding
day of his temple. Water was sprinkled to ask forgiveness for past lies and to ask
for the success of new deceits in the future. They were also supposed to pay ten
per cent of their profits to the shrine.
On the June Ides,
flute players had a feast in the temple of Jupiter and then roamed
the city wearing masks while intoxicated.
For several years starting in 304 BC and then revived
under Augustus, the July Ides featured the Transvectio Equitum.
This was a mounted procession of the
Equites Equo Publico through the Forum and ending at the Capitol.
The October Ides featured a two-horse chariot race on the Campus Martius and slaughter
of the October Horse, i.e. the outer horse of the winning pair. Its tail was cut off
and carried to the Regia where blood was dropped on the hearth while the head was also
removed and taken elsewhere.
This festival perhaps harkened all the way back to the days of the Indo-Europeans.
Parentalia – February 13-21
During the Dies Parentales, Romans remembered their dead,
especially parents,
including in the process some heavy drinking. On the 21st, they visited
cemeteries outside the city and placed flowers, milk and wine on
the graves of their parents. By doing this, they hoped to stop
the dead from feeling hungry and returning to plague the living.
Later on
these days were followed on the 22nd by the Caristia, the day of
Cara Cognatio which was a sort of family re-union of members
still living.
Quarrels were patched up, offenses forgiven and a
sacred, but joyful meal to which everyone brought something was shared in the
presence of the household Lares to whom offerings were made.
It was not inappropriate either to offer a toast to the Emperor's health.
So eventually it was nine days and called the parentalia novendialia.
It's possible that Christianity "baptized" this practice as the "novena".
Lupercalia – February 15
To Lupercus or Faunus. This started
at the cave of Lupercal on the Palatine Hill,
where by legend the wolf had reared the twins Romulus and
Remus.
Cakes made by the Vestal
Virgins from corn of the previous year were offered.
Goats and one dog were sacrificed for the occasion.
Two teams of youths, each having a captain, dressed in goat
skins and blood. The blood was wiped with wool dipped in milk.
The youths would have a magnificent meal, then, laughing, a footrace
around the base of the Palatine whipping onlookers with goatskin strips, februa,
that which purifies. A woman hoping to produce a male heir might try
get struck by the leather strap of the Lupercus (wolf).
Quirinalia – February 17
To Quirinus, which was another name for Romulus, said to be the founder
of Rome. Quirinus was also commemorated in the name of one of Rome's hills.
Feralia – February 21
To the gods of the netherworld.
Terminalia – February 23
To Terminus, possibly another name for Jupiter. It was a festival to
the god of boundaries and probably originated in the country where
farmers would meet their neighbors at the borders to their lands,
agree on them and leave small sacrifices that their lands would not
be invaded by any form of evil.
Regifugium – February 24
To Terminus. Later Romans thought it commemorated the expulsion of Rome's last king,
but like most of the festivals, it probably had its origin well before that.
Kalends –
March 1
Originally this was the day to re-kindle the perpetual fire representing the life of Rome
at the Temple of the Vestals. Fresh laurels were hung on public buildings.
At the same time it was festival to Mars with dances of the priestly
college (Salii) continuing for nineteen days. The dancers
held sacred shields during the ceremony and dined out at a different house
each night.
These multiple festivals to Mars make sense not just because the
month, Martius, was named for him, but also because this was the time of year
when the soldiers were called up for the year's campaigns.
Equirria –
March 14
A race of two-horse chariots on the Campius Martius in honor of Mars.
Liberalia –
March 17
To Liber and Libera, a celebration of freedom from evil, burdens, care and
folly. Also a continuation of the celebration for Mars during his month.
This was the day for boys, who still wore the toga praetexta
to assume the toga virilis – manly gown –
and declare their adulthood, pending the permission of the paterfamilias,
of course, usually on the occurrence falling nearest their sixteenth birthday.
Quinquatrus –
March 19
To Mars and Minerva. As Minerva was a goddess of learning,
this was chiefly observed by students and teachers, but was
also important to doctors and artisans like dry cleaners and dyers.
Tubilustrium –
March 23
To Mars. To bring success in the coming campaigns, the war trumpets
were cleaned.
Ludi Megalenses – April 4-10
Originally celebrated on March 27 when the statue of the Great
Mother was washed. This single day was in the second century AD expanded
to several days when
games were held in honor of Cybele, the Great Mother, a goddess represented
by a large stone brought to Rome in 204 BC by instruction of the Oracle of
Delphi. Transported all the way from Pessinus in Asia Minor, its arrival
must have seen auspicious as it coincided with Rome's final victory over Hannibal.
The holiday seems to have entered the calendar on a regular basis ten years later.
Usually only the last day featured chariot racing.
Ludi Ceriales – April 12-19
April was a popular month for games as these games dedicated to the goddess
of the harvest, Ceres, show. The first evidence for them is in 202 BC.
A special feature of these Ludi was the release of foxes which had lit
torches tied to their tails. This was probably supposed to avert danger
to the crops.
Usually only the last day featured chariot racing.
Nor were they the last games in April.
Parilia – April 21
Originally a country festival on which sheep were ritually purified against disease.
Later also a commemoration of the birthday of the city of Rome.
Each area in Rome had its own festivities, including bonfires and a large outdoor feast.
In the second century AD, such was the popularity of games that
they began to be held on this day.
A special feature of these Ludi was the hunting of roes and hares in the Circus.
Vinalia – April 23
To Jupiter and Venus.
Important for vine growers, probably corresponding
to the critical time of the first vine shoots and their possible exposure
to killing frost.
Robigalia – April 25
To Robigus.
Important for vine growers, probably corresponding
to the critical time of the first vine shoots and their possible exposure
to killing frost.
Ludi Floriales – April 28 - May 3
To Flora, goddess of flowers, and thus a fertility celebration.
Dating from 173 BC, these games were known for being licentious.
Later Maypole (a rather phallic symbol) festivities are probably a successor.
Presumably the crops should have been sown just prior to this and warm weather arriving,
so it would be a good time for a festival.
Usually only the last day featured chariot racing. There was also a strip-tease
performance by prostitutes. Once Cato the Younger left the theater rather than
view this scene.
Also featured tables piled high with flowers and people wearing bright garlands.
Important for vine growers.
Lemuria – May 9, 11, 13
The days when the ghosts of the dead were out and about.
Steven Saylor
wrote a story set in this time,
"The Lemures".
May 11 was also the birthday of Constantinople.
Agonalia –
May 21
To Vediovis, a form of Mars in his role as a protector.
Tubilustrium –
May 23
To Vulcan, who is responsible for the making of the sacred war trumpets (tubas).
Ludi Piscatorii –
June 7
These were a private celebration of games by the fishermen of the Tiber River.
Vestalia –
June 9
To Vesta. The married women of Rome took gifts to Vesta's temple.
It was also a holiday for bakers as the Vestal Virgins produced special loaves
from a salted flour.
Matralia –
June 11
To Mater Matuta, virgin goddess of the Dawn and matrons.
Offerings were taken to Matuta's temple for blessings on children and nephews/nieces.
Black Day: Anniversary of Trasimene –
June 21 or 23
A day considered unlucky since it was the anniversary of the defeat
to Hannibal in 217 BC.
Fors Fortuna – June 24
Festival to Fortuna. Sacrifices were made at two shrines outside
Rome near the Tiber River.
Poplifugia – July 5
Festival to Jupiter. Like most of the festivals, probably had its origin
in the time of Rome's kings. The name means "Flight of the People" and
probably refers to an event dimly remembered even in Republican times.
Perhaps an early republican movement?
Ludi Appollinares – July 6-13
In 212 BC, some years after Hannibal and his Carthaginians had inflicted
a horrible defeat at Cannae and Syracuse and Macedon had joined Rome's enemies,
the prophecies of one Marcius came to light, according to Marcius. This
prophecy had two parts, the first, to avoid battle at a place called "Canna".
Romans were all too ready to identify this with their recent horrendous
defeat at Cannae. The second said that to avoid such problems the Romans
must have a special festival for Apollo in the Greek fashion. The Sibylline
books were consulted to determine the correct rites.
In 208 BC there was a biological plague so the Ludi Apollinares were repeated.
Like the
Ludi Romani
these games proved so popular that they were instituted in the calendar
as a regular event.
Usually only the last day featured chariot racing.
One wonders though whether the prophecies of Marcius were written before
or after Cannae and what role the priests of Apollo had in their
publication.
Black Day –
July 18
A day considered unlucky since it was the anniversary of the near extinction
of the Fabius clan at Cremera in 477 BC and defeat by the Gauls at Allia in 390 BC
which led to the later sacking of Rome itself.
Lucaria –
July 19, 21
Commemorates the day of defeat of the Roman army by the Gauls in 390 BC.
Romans hid in the woods (lucus) and legendarily returned to defeat
the Gauls on their way back home.
Ludi Victoriae Caesarae – July 20-July 30
Following the
example of Sulla,
in 46 BC Julius Caesar established games to celebrate his Roman Civil War victory
over Pompeius at Pharsalus.
The four last days featured chariot racing.
Neptunalia –
July 23
To Neptune.
The men who worked on the barges and docks of the Tiber River celebrated.
Furrinalia –
July 25
To Furrina.
Portunalia –
August 17
To Portunus.
The men who worked on the bargest and docks of the Tiber River celebrated.
Vinalia –
August 19
To Jupiter and Venus. Important for vine growers, probably corresponding
to the times of harvest and crushing of grapes. This day was also a holiday for
gardeners.
Consualia –
August 21
To Consus, god responsible for protection of the harvest.
His temple was underground similar to a grain storage vault.
Volcanalia –
August 23
To Vulcan, god of life-sustaining fire.
Opiconsivia –
August 25
To Ops Consiva, the earth-goddess and wife of Saturn.
Vestal Virgins held rites to give thanks for the fertility
of the earth.
Volturnalia –
August 27
To Volturnus, god of the Tiber River.
Ludi Romani – September 5-19
In the early days of Rome, prior to battle a desperate general
would make a solemn vow to Jupiter to hold games in the god's honor if
only the Romans might win. If this happened and the state granted him
a triumph, the general would hold ludi magni, votivi. The
triumphal procession would lead from the Capitoline Hill to the Circus,
where the chariots were raced on the last five days of the festival.
The prior days were given to theatrical performances, i.e. pantomimes,
comedies and tragedies.
One day was given over to the Epulum Iovis and one to the Transvectio Equitum,
the parade of the Equites.
The popular idea that the games were always gladiatorial combats is a myth
for Republican times and even during the early empire, certainly
up to 169 BC. Hunting, venatio and combat
were not part of the Ludi, but of the Munera, originally an Etruscan religious tradition,
practiced at the death of a chief, where it was thought that spilling blood would give
strength to his spirit.
The Ludi Romani proved so popular that they were instituted in the calendar
as a regular event, as early as 366 BC when the office of aedile
may have been created to regulate them. These games were later extended by a day
because of a proposal by Marcus Antonius to honor the dead Julius Caesar, never
mind that he already had
games
in his honor.
By the late Republic, many of Rome's most prominent persons, e.g. Cicero, avoided
the associated crowds by escaping to the comforts of a rustic villa, perhaps in a
cooler clime near the sea.
The last chariot races at the Circus Maximus were held in AD 549 under a German chieftain.
Ludi Augustales – October 3-12
Following his predecessors
Sulla
and
Caesar,
games were held in Augustus' honor starting in 11 BC. It became a ten-day event
under Tiberius.
Usually only the last day featured chariot racing.
Black Day: Anniversary of Arausio – October 6
A day considered unlucky since it was the anniversary of the defeat
to German tribes in 105 BC.
Meditrinalia
– October 11
To Jupiter, in his form as the wine-god,
and Meditrina, goddess of healing and medicine.
Fontinalia
– October 13
To Fons or Fontus, god of fountains, springs, and wells.
Armilustrium
– October 19
To Mars. This marked the end of the military campaigning season.
Ludi Victoriae Sullae – October 26 - November 1
Sometimes modern readers are puzzled about why Sulla's contemporaries
complain so much about him. It should be realized that some of the
things he did could be rather offensive to the traditional Roman. For
example, after he won the battle of the Colline Gate in 82 BC to restore
his control of Rome from the Marian faction, he chose the first anniversary
to institute annual games in honor of the victory and by implication of course,
himself. Now what had once only been done for gods, was being done on behalf of a
mere man. This set a precedent for
Caesar.
Usually only the last day featured chariot racing.
Ludi Plebeian – November 4-17
The second greatest games, for the people, after the
Ludi Romani
seem to have started in 216 BC and held on a regular basis starting four
years later.
One day was given over to the Epulum Iovis and one to the Transvectio Equitum,
the parade of the Equites.
Only the last three days featured chariot racing.
Agonalia – December 11
Another day sacred to Janus, the bookend to that of
January 9.
Later also a day sacred to Sol Indiges.
Consualia – December 15
To Consus, god of Time, whose presence is obviously connected with the end of the year.
This is the start of the Halcyon Days, the seven days preceding and the
seven days following the Winter Solstice.
Saturnalia – December 17
At first lasting only one day, Saturnalia was the Roman midwinter celebration
of the Solstice* and the greatest of all the Roman annual holidays.
In the late Republic it was extended to two or three days, celebrated
over three days in the Augustan Empire and in the reign
of Caligula extended to four. By the end of the first century AD, it was
technically a five-day holiday celebrated in seven.
A cry of Io Saturnalia! and a
sacrifice of young pigs at the temple of Saturn inaugurated the
festival. They were served up the next day when masters gave their
slaves – who were temporarily immune from all punishments –
a day off and waited on them for dinner. After dinner there
was plenty of clowning and merriment with wine as a social lubricant,
sometimes degenerating into wild horseplay. Dice were used to choose
one person at the dinner as Saturnalian King – it could be a slave –
and everyone was forced to obey his absurd commands to sing, dance
or blacken their faces and be thrown into cold water and the like
for the entire period. The dice may have been loaded
in 54 AD, when Nero was so chosen. He used the opportunity to humiliate
Claudius' son Britannicus, apparently a poor vocalist, by forcing him to sing.
It was traditional to deck the halls with boughs of laurel and green
trees as well as a number of candles and lamps. These symbols of
life and light were probably meant to dispel the darkness.
It was also traditional for friends to exchange gifts and even to carry
small gifts on one's person in the event of running into a friend
or acquaintance in the streets or in the Forum. Originally the
gifts were symbolic candles and clay dolls – sigillaria –
purchased at a colonnaded market called Sigillaria which
was located in the Colonnade of the Argonauts, later in one of the
Colonnades of Trajan's Baths. Something similar is still practiced
in Rome's Piazza Navona today. Gifts which could also include food
items such as pickled fish, sausages, beans, olives, figs, prunes,
nuts and cheap wine as well as small amounts of money grew to be
more extravagant over time – small silver objects were typical –
as did their acquisition. How modern the first century writer
Seneca sounds when he complains about the shopping season: "Decembris
used to be a month; now it's a whole year." At the same time,
Martialis may have been the first sage to remark "The only wealth
you keep forever is that which you give away."
Nor did the fun stop there. During the entire festival, the laws
against gambling were relaxed so that everyone including slaves and
children could gamble at dice and other games of chance, children
using nuts for wagers. Men stopped wearing their uncomfortable togas
in favor of the synthesis
(a tunic with a small cloak both brightly-colored and also wearable by women)
for the entire period and simply donned
a felt cap, pilleum to show they were not slaves.
Away from Rome, Romans still commemorated the festival. In Athens,
academy students such as Aulus Gellius and his friends dined together
for the occasion, much as American students in a European university
may dine together on Thanksgiving Day.
Roman mysteries featuring the Saturnalia festival:
The Saturnalia can be seen
as just one version of many different midwinter festivals created
by various cultures around the world (could they all have a distant
ur-origin in man's distant past?). To early cultures lacking
electric lighting, the daily length of the daylight would be a much
more significant issue than it is for our modern one. It is no
wonder that the end of the shortening of days was greeted with
exuberance and associated with the god Saturn who to the Romans
signified abundance. This probably also explains why the Romans
decided to locate the state treasury in his temple. Also, as part
of the festivities, the normally-bound statue of Saturnus in the
Forum was unfettered for the duration of the festival.
The rites of the Saturnalia seem strange and difficult to explain.
As Saturn was bequeathed to the Romans by the Etruscans, this calls
into question their own origins. Many have identified them with
the Pelasgians or Sea-Peoples of Asia Minor who were said to have
migrated to the Italian peninsula. It is possible that the Etruscans
were not even Indo-European speakers, although it is also possible
that these migrants cohabitated with Indo-European groups which
may have already been in Etruria. In any case these people founded
the town of Saturnia in Etruria and were probably responsible for
the introduction of Saturn to the Italian peninsula. Were they also
responsible for the festival? Some have assumed that the festival
was bequeathed, like so much else, to Rome by the Greeks, whose god
Kronos was equated with Saturn. But the evidence for this is scanty
as there is little in the Greek record to indicate a Saturnalic tradition.
Note also that the name of the festival itself seems to indicate a
non-Greek origin. In my opinion, it is more likely that we should look
to the Etruscans for the perpetuation of the festival.
Perpetuation rather than origination because it is clear that in
ancient Mesopotamia there were traditional practices which pre-dated
those of the Etruscans and Romans. There, over four thousand years
ago, it was believed that the nadir of daylight was the weakest moment
in an annual struggle between the chief god Marduk (or sometimes his
predecessor, Enlil) and his enemies, monsters of chaos. The way of
the world in their belief was sort of like a wind-up clock which by
the end of year began to run down as seen by the dying harvested fields
and waning sunlight. Death might overwhelm the world if Marduk did not
rejoin and re-win his fight with the monsters below the earth.
It is also apparent that the Saturnalia tradition did not arrive whole,
but rather had a number of different antecedents, which themselves were
changed and adapted over the centuries before it reached Rome. This
should not come as any surprise for consider how much Saturnalia has
been changed and adapted in comparison with the Christmas celebrations
of our own day. I think that these many different traditions help to
understand why some of the Saturnalia traditions, e.g. the unfettered god,
are so contradictory or inexplicable. Again like our own Christmas, bits
and pieces from a number of traditions from different times and places
have been combined together, often without much conscious understanding
or memory of their original purposes.
In any case, Marduk's struggle was not to be performed by the
god alone. Ordinary people, it was felt,
had a threefold role to play as well: (1) they were required to purify
themselves of the evil that the past year had brought upon them, (2)
they needed to renew the strength that the year had drained away and (3)
if they failed in either of these, they would play it safe and try to
find a scapegoat who could take the consequences.
These roles had special significance for the king whose household
represented the fortunes of the entire people. Under the direction
of the priests there would be re-created the story of the creation
of the world, at the end of which the king was supposed to die so as
to accompany Marduk into the underworld and battle at his side. Among
kings, unsurprisingly this was an unpopular ritual and the eventual
inspiration for the idea of dressing a criminal as a "mock king" for
a short time before killing him in the real king's place. At the same
time, it was also tradition for another criminal to be set free.
Perhaps this act of forgiveness and generosity lay behind the
tradition of the unfettered god?
Another of the traditions was the festival called Zagmuk.
It included huge bonfires and burning of Marduk's enemy in effigy.
Bonfires are a logical development it seems of a festival held during
the waning of the light. It was this festival also which seems to
have inaugurated the exchange of gifts.
In Persia and Babylon, the festival was called Sacaea. This
appears to be the original tradition in which masters and slaves
traded roles and in which one of the slaves was appointed head of the
household.
As played out in ancient Babylon, in proper season the king would
repair to the temple dedicated to Marduk, be stripped of his insignia
by the chief priest and swear that in the past year he had done
nothing wrong. The chief priest then would speak for Marduk and
re-invest the king with his kingdom. We can see how the priestly
class simultaneously protected its power and provided an explanation
for terrifying, unexplainable natural events.
The Roman rationalization of the Saturnalia by the contemporary writer
Macrobius can be found at
De Saturno & Jano Tractatus (in English).
The excesses of the Saturnalia were targeted by Christian writers
from the second century, but its celebration survived well into the fifth.
* "Solstice"
is a Latin word, by the way, coming to English from Old French
and then Middle English, and originally derived from sol sun +
status, the past participle of sistere to come to a stop,
cause to stand. This makes sense if you think about the solstice as the
sun's path reaching an endpoint and then turning around and going the
other way. During the few days during which this direction change is occurring,
it will appear that there is actually no movement at all.
Opalia – December 19
To the mother goddess Ops, also known as Cybele or Rhea.
Divalia – December 21
To Angerona and also to Dia, goddess of the Arval brothers.
Larentalia – December 23
To Jupiter and Larenta (Larunda) also called Lupa for her loose morals.
This was actually the municipal goddess of Larentum, which Rome imported
upon its conquest. It became a day of licentiousness.
Festival of the New Sun – December 25
Originally not an official festival, but celebrated by adherents to Mithraism
as the birth of the new sun. The Emperor Aurelian was devoted to a single sun god
and during his reign it became a public festival complete with chariot-racing in the Circus.
He erected a temple to Sol Invictus in AD 274.
Bibliography
The above accounts were based on the following references:
Balsdon, J.P.V.D, Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome,
1969, New York, McGraw-Hill
