December

[Horatius Piscinus]

DECEMBER

'Saturnus, let slip your fetters and come hither with December, tipsy on much wine, with Mirth laughing and with Humor insolent (Statius Silvae I.vi.4-6).' Vesta, goddess of hearth and home, protects the month of December, in which is celebrated Saturnalia.

1 Kal. Dec. 26 Nov. N: KALENDS: Neptunus, temple restored by Augustus, 32 BCE; Salacia; Pietati in the Circus Flaminium (after 101 BCE); Venus and Cupid

2 IV Non. 27 Nov. N: Everything fortunate comes to those who follow the Gods, adversity to those who scorn Them (Livy V.51.5).

3 III Non. 28 Nov. C: Women?s rite of the Bona Dea held in house of a consul or praetor with the Vestal Virgins attending. Feast of Faunus.

4 Prid. Non 29 Nov. C: Poverty needs little, greed needs it all (Publius Syrus).

5 III 30 Nov. F: NONAE: DIE QUINTI TE KALO when the Regina Sacrorum would make a sacrifice to Juno Covella. Faunalia rustica; pagani offer a kid, wine, and garden flowers to Faunus, dancing then in triple time blessing their herds

6 VIII Idus 1 Dec. F: With Saturn?s curved blade pursue and prune the forlorn vine and cut it into shape (Virgil Georg. II 407).

7 VII Idus 2 Dec. C: Execution of Cicero 43 BCE. He whom Fate cherishes becomes a fool (Publius Syrus).

8 VI Idus 3 Dec. C: Gaiae; Tiburnus in Insula; Birth of Horace, 65 BCE.

9 V Idus 4 Dec. C:. Optalia: Feast of Ops, goddess of Harvests. Mesonyctium: Vigil of Attys.

10 IV Idus 5 Dec C: Lux Mundi; Tribuni plebis magistratum ineunt (the day the people?s Tribunes took office during the Late Republic.

11 III Idus 6 Dec NP: AGONIA; Bruma, goddess of Winter; Septimontia sacrifice on the Palentine Hill made by the flamen Palatualis; carts drawn by beasts of burden were not allowed in the city on this day. 361 CE: Emperor Julian the Blessed declared religious tolerance and restoration of the culti deorum ex patria.

12 Pridie Idus 7 Dec. EN: Consus on the Aventine (273 BCE?), the god of horses celebrated by a parade of riders, their horses decked in flowers, and led by a Rex Equus. .

13 NP: IDIBUS 8 Dec: Sementivae sowing festival of Tellus in Carinis (268 BCE); Lectisternium Cereri in Carinis.

14 XVIII Kal. Ian. 9 Dec. F: By several days will bad and wintry weather often precede the proper date to begin that season, what the Greeks call proceimazein or "to be an early winter" (Pliny Nat. Hist. 18.57).

15 XVII Kal. Ian. 10 Dec. NP: CONSUALIA; supplicatio to Fortuna Redux

16 XVI Kal Ian. 11 Dec. C: "Come now, Antiquity, and compare our festival today to that held for primeval Jove in a golden age, not liberally did the wine flow then, nor the harvest anticipate the tardy year (Statius
I.vi.39-42)."

17 XV Kal Ian. 12 Dec. NP: SATURNALIA Feriae, originally a single feastday for the dedication of a temple to Saturnus on the Capitoline Hill in 497 BCE; in 217 BCE the festival was reorganized and expanded.

18 XIV Kal. Ian. 13 Dec. C:.SATURNALIA Feriae; Ausonian swains, a race from Troy derived, make merry with rough rhymes and boistrous mirth (Virgil Georg. II.385-6)

19 XIII Kal. Ian. 14 Dec. NP: SATURNALIA Feriae; OPALIA; Iuventas at the Circus Maximus (191 BCE)

20 XII Kal Ian. 15 Dec C: SATURNALIA Feriae; Death of Vitellius at Rome, 69 CE.

21 XI Kal Ian. 16 Dec. NP: SATURNALIA Feriae; DIVALIA ANGERONAE, an arcane ceremony held at Winter Solstice for the rebirth of the sun, honoring the silent goddess Angerona who is associated with the NorthStar.

22 X Kal Ian. 17 Dec. C: SATURNALIA Feriae; Laribus Permarinis in Porticu Minucia (179 BCE).

23 IX Kal Ian.. 18 Dec.. NP: SATURNALIA Feriae; Feriae Iovi; LARENTALIA where the flamen Quirinalis performed a parentatio to Acca Larentia; Dianae in the Circus Flaminium (179); Iuno Regina in the Circus Flaminium (179 BCE); Tempestatibus at the Portus Capena(259 BCE). New Moon.

24 VIII Kal Ian. 19 Dec. C: Don?t carry logs into a forest (Horace).

25 VII Kal Ian. 20 Dec. C: Mithras natalis. The winter solstice begins at the eight degree of Capricorn, the eight day before the kalends of January (Pliny Nat. Hist. 18.59).

26 VI Kal. Ian. 21 Dec. C: A mouse does not rely on a single hole (Plautus).

27 V Kal. Ian. 22 Dec. C: [Winter Solstice 2003 at 6:04 AM.CET in Roma]

28 IV Kal Ian. 23 Dec. C: A drop of water may hollow a stone (Ovid).

29 III Kal Ian. 24 Dec. C: Compitalia: a rustic celebration at the end of the farming season, it has no fixed date but falls between the end of Saturnalia and the Nones of January.

30 Prid. Kal. Ian. 25 Dec.. C: The careful swain looks keenly forward to the coming year. (Virgil Georg. II)

Kal. Ian. 26 Dec. F: KALENDAE IANUARIAE.

[Anonymous]

I was born on the 5th. of December, what is that day exactly?

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salve Luci Flavi

Your birth date would be according to the Gregorian calendar. The Roman calendar or Julian reconning is currently about thirteen days behind the Gregorian, which would put you at 22 November Julian. The calendar postings I make have two dates. The first can be used with a Gregorian reconning, although it would be more proper to consider it as a Julian date. The second date given on each line is used to adjust the lunar cycle to the Gregorian date. Each month I adjust the dates by placing the Ides on the day of Full Moon. Currently we are running ahead of both the Gregorian and Julian calendars, but that will be corrected in February with the inclusion of an incalinary month.

For purposes of celebrating I would consider your birthday to coincide with the Nones December, and as the Nones of all months are dedicated to Faunus (just as all kalends belong to Juno and all Ides belong to Jupiter) then your birthday also falls on the Rustic Faunalia marked by the First Quarter Moon of December.

Felices Natalis !