Parentalia

Parentalia
Official name	Parentalia
Also called	Dies Parentales
Observed by	Pagans, practioners of the Cultus Deorum Romanorum
Significance	Honour of the ancestors of a gens or stirps
Observances	Ancestor Veneration
Date	Id. Februariis - a.d. IX Kal. Martias
Frequency	Annual

The Parentalia is a Roman festival spanning from the dates of Id. Februariis to a.d. IX Kal. Martias. The festival was dedicated to ancestor veneration.

During the Parentalia it was the duty of the paterfamilias to offer to the Di Parentes at the tombs of their ancestors. The offerings were usually quite simple for time.Ovidius Nāsō, Pūblius. Fāstī II (in Latin). p. 537.

The Parentalia was the first of three Roman festivals in February for appeasing the dead which started on the Ides and lasted until the 22nd.

Processions

The Parentalia was a relatively domestic affair and took place across several days. All people in Rome were aware of the event as people took time off and temple doors were closed as the festival was chthonic. Marriage, worship, all business and politics were placed on hold. It also may be that sexual activity was banned.Ovidius Nāsō, Pūblius. Fāstī II (in Latin).

Sacrifices

It is known, because of Ovid's detailed account in the Fasti, that the sacrifices were simple:

parva petunt manes: pietas pro divite grata est

munere; non avidos Styx habet ima deos.

tegula porrectis satis est velata coronis

et sparsae fruges parcaque mica salis,

inque mero mollita Ceres violaeque solutae:

haec habeat media testa relicta via.

This details that the offerings should be simple, that they should consist of nothing more than:

• A tile wreathed round with garlands
• A scattering of meal, and a few grains of salt
• Bread soaked in wine
• Loose violets

He then continues to say that they should be set on a brick left in the middle of the path.

Ovid describes that the most important part of the offering is to pray with true intent and proper words. That pietas is more proper than anything.

Public Processions

Parentalia was initiated with the one of the Vestal Virgins. A Vestal began the ceremonies on Id. Februariis by conducting a rite for the collective Di Parentes of Rome at the tomb of Tarpeia. The start of the festival occurred at 06:00 in the morning.Fowler, William Warde (1908). The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic. p. 306.

Comparison to Lemuralia

Unlike the Lemuralia which was focused on the negative spirits, the lemures, the Parentalia was focused on the Di Manes and the Di Parentes which are the benevolent spirits and focused on the veneration of them instead of the exorcism of the lemures. A deceased person was regarded as having joined the di parentes.