The Caereris Mundus is part of one of the darkest traditions of Italic paganism.
This ritual belongs to the archaic Roman religion, but it is believed that its origin is even more ancient, belonging to the Etruscan religion.
Since, in the Etruscan civilization, cities were built according to some dictates of sacred geometry, the mundus was usually built exactly in the middle of the two main axes of the city, which the Romans would later call Cardo (North-South) and Decumanus (East-West) ), as in a sort of Axis Mundi.
It was a pit so deep that it served as a link between the world of the living and the world of the dead, a temple dedicated to the deities of the underworld, where auspicious rituals were performed to ingratiate both the divinities of the cosmos and those of the underworld.
In particular, this temple was consecrated to the Goddess Ceres; divinity linked to the fertility of the earth and to the cultivation of the fields (its name derives from the suffix -ker which means "the principle of growth"), which was later assimilated the Goddess Demeter. Since the earth contains not only the seeds of the harvest, but is also the place where the bodies of the dead are buried, Ceres was also considered a chthonic deity of the afterlife.
The pit was paved and made spherical, to recall the shape of the earth and the sky, in this way it was recreated a real underground world, with a precise center of gravity in perfect balance, around which it developed the city.
The Mundus remained sealed, closed by the lapis manalis, the sacred stone to the spirits, and was only opened three times a year: August 24th, October 5th and November 8th, days called "Mundus Patet".
This type of ritual had a purifying character, as it took place just before important festivals such as the Saturnalia and the Sol Invictus. The italian word "mondare" derives from the root “mundus" which means “to purify”.
These days were called Dies Religious, and every public activity was suspended, leaving the spirits of the dead, the Mani (manes), to walk freely on our earth plane.
According to the roman official Macrobio, the opening of the mundus would have been a delicate and potentially dangerous moment, not only because of the fear that the dead could possibly invade the earth, but because of the danger that the underworld would attract the living. For this reason, during these days, all the activities concerning the army and the war were suspended.
In these days it was possible to come into contact with the divinities and offer them the fruits of the earth, animal sacrifices or clay tablets on which formulas or requests were written.
THE SPIRITS OF THE ROMAN UNDERWORLD.
According to the Roman religion, depending on the behavior in life of the person, his spirit would have had a different destiny.
Mani:
Their name comes from the Latin manes and means "benevolent", it is the spirits of the dead who still have not found a qualification, they were mainly offered foodstuffs, such as bread and wine.
Lari:
Their name derives from the Latin lares which indicates the domestic hearth.
The Lares are the spirits of the ancestors who watch over the good performance of the family and protect the properties and people of their family of origin. They were given a niche in the domus, where effigies were depicted with the semblance of the dear extinct, which were honored with offerings and dedicating flames to them.
Larvae or Manie:
Those who in life led an evil existence, became Larvae or Manie, malignant spirits that tormented the living and also the Lari Familiares.
They were depicted with the appearance of living dead, skeletal corpses that led to madness (manias) or sucked the energies (larvae) of the people who decided to torment.
FROM THE CULT OF THE UNDERWORLD TO THE CHRISTIAN DAY OF THE DEAD.
When Christianity took over the cults of ancient Rome, which were made illegal, the hard core of paganism, in the countryside, continued with the adoration of the ancient deities and the ancient mystery cults.
The awareness of the relationship between nature, spirits and Gods of the pagans was hard to eradicate for the Christians, who offered them only dogmas in which they could only believe blindly, without rational explanations.
The priestesses of Diana and Ceres used to lay sweets and cakes on the altars of the chthonic deities to attract the spirits of the dead and to provide them with sustenance. In the Roman tradition, it was believed that, behind normal natural events, there was a sort of invisible world that governed them.
For example, the Goddess Diana was defined as Trina (three), as she gave her life, allowed her to grow and then accompanied her at the end, for this reason she was often represented with three heads.
With the aim of predominating over these ancient cults, Christians took possession of the term trino as regards the trinity, father, son and holy spirit, and moved the cult of the dead, which at that time was celebrated in May, in late autumn, at the end of October, when the countryside was now deserted and the harvest were finished.
From here, we arrived at the day of the dead today, which is celebrated in the church on November the 2nd, completely distorted by christianity compared to traditional cults; in fact, we have lost the tranquility and awareness that the ancient priestesses of the Goddess had while recalling the dead, leaving space, no longer to a request for protection to our ancestors, but to a terrible fear of the spirits, unfounded feelings that they were only inculcated in our minds to give the church additional power.
♄Unornya
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Sources:
Georges Dumézil, La Religione Romana Arcaica, Miti, Leggende, Realtà, 2017.
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