Nona was one of the Parcae, the three personifications of destiny in Roman mythology (the Moirai in Greek mythology and in Germanic mythology, the Norns), and the Roman goddess of pregnancy. The Roman equivalent of the Greek Clotho, she spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. Nona, whose name means "ninth", was called upon by pregnant women in their ninth month when the child was due to be born.
She, Decima and Morta together controlled the metaphorical thread of life.
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Clotho (/ˈkloʊθoʊ/ ; Greek: Κλωθώ) or Klotho, is a mythological figure. She was one of the Three Fates or Moirai. In ancient Greek mythology, she spins the thread of human life while her sisters draw out (Lachesis) and cut (Atropos) the thread. She is generally considered the youngest of the three Fates, although in some later sources, such as Giovanni Boccaccio’s Genealogia Deorum Gentilium, she is described as the eldest among the Moirai. She also made major decisions, such as when a person was born, thus in effect controlling people's lives. This power enabled her not only to choose who was born, but also to decide when deities or mortals were to be saved or put to death. For example, Clotho resurrected Pelops when his father killed him. Her Roman equivalent is Nona.
As one of the three fates, her influence in Greek mythology was significant. Along with her sisters and Hermes, Clotho was given credit for creating the alphabet for their people. Even though Clotho and her sisters were worshiped as goddesses, their representation of fate is more central to their role in mythology. Thread represented human life and her decisions represented the fate of all people in society.
In ancient Rome the dies lustricus ("day of lustration" or "purification day") was a traditional naming ceremony in which an infant was purified and given a praenomen (given name). This occurred on the eighth day for girls and the ninth day for boys, a difference Plutarch explains by noting that "it is a fact that the female grows up, and attains maturity and perfection before the male." Until the umbilical cord fell off, typically on the seventh day, the baby was regarded as "more like a plant than an animal," as Plutarch expresses it. The ceremony of the dies lustricus was thus postponed until the last tangible connection to the mother's body was dissolved and the child was seen "as no longer forming part of the mother, and in this way as possessing an independent existence which justified its receiving a name of its own and therefore a fate of its own." The day was celebrated with a family feast. The childhood goddess Nundina presided over the event, and the goddess Nona was supposed to determine a person's lifespan. Prior to the ceremony infants were not considered part of the household, even if their father had raised them up during a tollere liberum.
On the dies lustricus, the Fata Scribunda were invoked. The "Written Fates" probably refers to a ceremonial writing down of the child's new name, perhaps in a family chronicle. To the Romans, the giving of a name was as important as being born. The receiving of a praenomen inaugurated the child as an individual with its own fate. A child's name may have been decided on before hand in the preceding days. In rare instances children were given names before the ceremony or posthumously, for example one child named Simplicius is recorded to have died the same day as he was born, possibly only living an hour. Often when a boy was commemorated despite dying before their name giving they are recorded only with their family nomen and possibly a cognomen. In the past some historians such as Theodor Mommsen believed that all male infants who died before their naming day were given a pseudopreanomen "Pupus" (a pet name meaning "little boy") in place of an actual praenomen on inscriptions, but it has later been proven that Pupus was a genuine praenomen (although incredibly rare).