Roman Calendar
by: M. Moravius Horatius Piscinus

Januarius

"Janus, though You begin each fleeting year, and renew the long ages wherever You appear, though vows and incense are piously first offered to You, and the consuls begin each year by laying offerings at Your feet..." (Martial 8.8.1-5)


1 KALENDS F: Natalis Aesculapis (291BCE). Natalis Vediovis (200BCE). Strenia: Give gifts (strenae) to loved ones, and burn twigs of laurel upon an altar. Auspici Magistratum: the consules take office (beginning 153 BCE) by viewing the auspices for the coming year at the Auguralium on the Arx and then offering sacrifices to Jupiter at the Capitolium. Dedication of Trajan’s Forum, 112 CE. Ascension of Pertinax, 193 CE.

2 IV Non Ian F: Dies Ater: the day after every Kalends, Nones, and Ides in every month are "black days," on which nothing new may be begun. Latona’s grandson, revered Aesculapius, by whose mild herbal remedies too briefly are the Fates beguiled. (Martial 9.17)

3 III Non Ian C
: Pax, goddess of Peace. Peace, O come to us, holding corn with its tassels, and pour from the breast of your robe a harvest of fruit! (Tibullus I.10.67-68). Birth of M. Tullius Cicero, 106 BCE.

4 Pridie Non Ian C:
Compitalia, on an unfixed date, set by the praetor to honor the Lares Compitales.

5 Nonis Ian
F: NONES The Rex Sacrorum announces the month’s festivals from the Arx. Victoria at the shrine of Vico Poto.

6 VIII Idus Ian F: Dies Ater. Nocturnal rite of Kore. Gods of the endless night, whose powers grow stronger with the approach of death, I pray, come to me, and gently admit a life spent in ardor among the Manes. (Silius Italicus, Punica VIII.140-42)

7 VII Idus Ian C:
Feriale Cumanum anniversary of Augustus assuming the imperium, 43 BCE.

8 VI Idus Ian C:
Justitia, goddess of Justice. Dedication of the Ara Justitae Augustae, 13 CE.

9 V Idus Ian
NP: Agonalia: Rex Sacrorum offers a ram to Janus in the Regia. Blessing of the threshold of the house. Priapus: May leafy shade shelter you, Priapus, and neither the hot sun nor snowy storms bring you harm. (Tibullus I.4.1).

10 IV Idus Ian C: All things prosperous come to those who follow the Gods, misfortune to those who scorn Them (Livy V 51.5)

11 III Idus Ian
NP: Juturnalia, festival of Juturna, goddess of fountains. Carmentalia, festival of Carmenta, goddess of prophecy, attended by Porrima (Future) and Postuorta (Past). Women hold rites to benefit pregnant women and their children, especially with regard to their futures. No woman should do housework or accept their husband’s advances on this day. Augustus closed the doors of the Temple of Janus on this day in 29 BCE to announce the Pax Romana.

12 Pridie Idus Ian C:
Sementivae Feriae, the festival of sowing, not on a fixed date but one set by the pontifices in accordance with the weather, and held again seven days later.

13 IDIBUS IANUARIAE NP: Paganicae, like the Sementivae Feriae but for country districts, on a date set by the praetor and held again seven days later.

14 XIX Kal Feb EN: Dies Ater. Camena, in hot pursuit of clever men, visit me. (Livius Andronicus, Odisia)

15 XVIII Kal Feb
NP: Carmentalia Carmentina as goddess of charms; perform rites for protecting newborns. Three men acting as Intercidona (with an axhead), Picumnus (with a pestle), and Deverra (with a broom) rap at doors and windows around the outside of houses with infants. Women return to wifely duties, after tradition that the Senate had conceded to their demands.

16 XVII Kal Feb C:
Concordia, goddess of harmonious relations.

17 XVI Kal Feb C:
Felicitas, goddess of happiness. Marriage of Augustus and Livia, 38 BCE. Dedication of the Ara Numinis Augusti, 9CE.

18 XV Kal Feb C: Women’s festival in honor of
Juno. Come, most chaste Queen of Heaven, appear in royal robes and nod your assent to the wine that is poured and the cakes piled high that await you. With you bring every herb for ending pain, and soothing songs to sing. (Tibullus IV.6.1 sqq.)

19 XIV Kal Feb C:
Sementiva Feriae, the second half of the sowing festival; on an unfixed date, set by the pontifices.

20 XIII Kal Feb C: Death of Clodius Pulcher by Milo, 52 BCE. Birth of Emperor Gordianus III, 225 CE.

21 XII Kal Feb C:
Paganicae, second half of the sowing festival in country districts; on an unfixed date, set by the praetor.

22 XI Kal Feb C: A word once spoken flies away irreparably. (Horace, Epistulae I.18.71)

23 X Kal Feb C: If Jupiter were to hurl His thunderbolts as often as men were wicked, He soon would be disarmed. (Ovid, Tristia 2.1.33-34)

24 IX Kal Feb C:
Paganalia Offer Tellus and Ceres spelt cakes, milk and a sow. Death of the Emperor Gaius (Caligula); ascension of Claudius, 41 CE. Birth of Hadrian, 76 CE.

25 VIII Kal Feb C:
Paganalia Pray to Tellus and Ceres for protection of seeds against birds.

26 VII Kal Feb C:
Paganalia Offer Tellus and Ceres spelt cakes and milk.

27 VI Kal Feb C: Feast of
Bacchus. Rededication of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, 6 CE. Death of Nerva, 98 CE.

28 V Kal Feb C: Better and safer is a sure peace than a hope for victory; the former lies with you, the latter is in the hands of the Gods. (Livy 30.30)

29 IV Kal Feb C: Natalis of
Pax, goddess of Peace. Pax, be present and soften the whole world with Your gentleness. (Ovid, Fasti 1.711)

30 III Kal Feb C: Dedication by Augustus of the
Ara Pacis in the Campus Martius, 9 BCE. Birth of Didius Julianus, 133 CE.

31 Prid Kal Feb Oct. C: Leave meal, honey, and milk on pottery shards for
Hecate at a crossroads. Nocturnal Hecate, who is called at the crossroads throughout the City, and avenging Dirae, and Elissa’s gods of the dying, hear our prayers, heed them, and direct your awful powers against those who deserve it. (Virgil, Aeneis IV.609) Imperial edict imposed the death sentence for practitioners of paganism, 438 CE.

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