The Pagan Origins of the Italian Ferragosto

On August 15th, in Italy we celebrate Ferragosto, or the Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, but only a few know the pagan origins of this festival.

In 27 BC the emperor Octavianus was proclaimed Augustus, this title is a Latin translation of the term Sebastòs, which means "venerable" or "respectable", a title that in the East was used to indicate divinity, and in fact, in the eastern provinces, the title of the emperor assumed a mystical connotation.

Moreover, the term Augustus derives from the word auges-, which means "to grow", which in turn derives from the vedic term ójas which means "the peak of force", a reference to the fact that the emperor is the one who increases wealth and the strength of the state.

As in the month of August many Roman religious festivals took place, the emperor decided to unify them, declaring the whole month of August "Feriae Augusti".

The word Feriae indicates a period of the year when people are exempt from profane activities, to devote themselves to their worship activities instead.

CONSUALIA:

Between August 15th and 21st was the festivity of Consus, God of the stored harvest (from which the verb condere).

Since he was a divinity of the earth, Romans consecrated an hypogeum temple for him, with an underground altar placed in the Valley of the Circus, at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where light was only introduced during the Consualia period (in August and December).

Prior to Consus, during the same period the mother goddess Consiva was celebrated (also known as Opi or Ops or Openconsiva).

Like all the other mother goddesses, she made a son while remaining a virgin (in fact she was later assimilated to the figure of the Christian Madonna).

Adored as a Goddess of vegetation, her place was then usurped by the God, but her cult survived and two sanctuaries were dedicated to her: one in the Forum and another one in the Campidoglio and her feast was celebrated on August 25th.

NEMORALIA:

One of the most important festivals took place between 13th and 15th of August in honor of the Goddess Diana.

Diana was a very important Goddess, not so much in the city of Rome but mainly in the countryside and in Lazio; here the Goddess was venerated as a goddess of the woods, goddess of sacred sources and protectress of cultivated fields, but above all she was associated with magic and she was the Goddess of wild herbs, both edible and medicinal ones. The women who devote themselves to the study of the herbal lore, continued their cult for 1000 years, even after the prohibition of pagan cults, and for this reason many of them were burned at the stake.

Lake of Nemi.

The name of the Goddess is formed by the adjective dīus, which is incorporated in many Roman divine names, meaning "celestial space".

The first sanctuary dedicated to the Goddess was located in Ariccia, on the shore of a mountain lake, the lake of Nemi (from the Latin nemus, sacred forest, defined by poets as a speculum Dianae, Diana's mirror). The Goddess owed her name "Diana Nemorensis", from which the name of the festival "Nemoralia" derives. Later the official cult was established on the Aventine.

With the passing of time and due to the influence of the Hellenic religion, the figure of Diana was assimilated to that of Artemis, enriching herself with all the complex nature of the Greek virgin Goddess, who exercised her power of protection on pregnant women and the birth of children .

During the Nemoralia, the women, both those who belonged to the nobility and the slaves, were carefully washing themselves in the lake and tying their hair, decorating them with flowers, then they went into the forest in procession with torches and lighted candles, as a sign of gratitude for the services that the Goddess made them.

The classic offerings to the Goddess included prayers written on ribbons tied to altars or trees, small effigies made in clay or bread depicting parts of the body that needed care, or small images of mothers with children, or even small statues of deers but also dances, poems and songs.

In fact, the archaeological excavations in the area have brought to light some ex-votos of undoubted significance: icons in clay representing sexual organs to symbolize procreation, pregnant women and mothers with infants.

In the same forest there was a sacred spring, which concealed a nymph called Egeria, whose name refers to the liberation of pregnant women. Here the pregnant women came to offer sacrifices to ensure an easy birth and protection of the Goddess.

Ovid in the "Fasti" described for the first time this holiday:

"In the Arrician valley, there is a lake surrounded by shady forests, Held sacred by a religion from the olden times... On a long fence hang many pieces of woven thread, and many tablets are placed there as grateful gifts to the Goddess. Often does a woman whose prayers Diana answered, With a wreath of flowers crowning her head, Walk from Rome carrying a burning torch.”

The festivities dedicated to Diana were the most difficult to eradicate and to replace with Christianity, as Diana represented the Goddess of pagus, of the people of the villages (the word from which the word paganism derives), which freed the world from inguices and illnesses.

With the coming of Christianity, the pagan festivals will be abolished and people began to attribute these qualities to the Virgin Mary.

Silvarum patrona et domina, Diana es.

♄Unornya

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