Roman festival in the context of Paganalia

The Parilia or Palilia was an ancient Roman festival of rural character performed annually on 21 April, aimed at cleansing both sheep and shepherd. It was carried out in acknowledgment to the Roman deity Pales, a deity of uncertain gender who was a patron of shepherds and sheep.

Ovid describes the Parilia at length in the Fasti, an elegiac poem on the Roman religious calendar, and implies that it predates the founding of Rome (753 BC in the Varronian chronology), as indicated by its pastoral and preagricultural concerns. During the Republic, farming was idealized and central to Roman identity, so the festival took on a more generally rural character. Increasing urbanization caused the rustic Parilia to be reinterpreted rather than abandoned, as Rome was an intensely traditional society. During the Imperial period, the date was celebrated as the birthday of Rome (Latin: dies natalis Romae or natalis Urbis).

Vulcan (Latin: Vulcanus, in archaically retained spelling also Volcanus, both pronounced [wʊɫˈkaːnʊs]) is the god of fire including the fire of volcanoes, deserts, metalworking and the forge in ancient Roman religion and myth. He is often depicted with a blacksmith's hammer. The Vulcanalia was the annual festival held August 23 in his honor. His Greek counterpart is Hephaestus, the god of fire and smithery. In Etruscan religion, he is identified with Sethlans.

Vulcan belongs to the most ancient stage of Roman religion: Varro, the ancient Roman scholar and writer, citing the Annales Maximi, records that king Titus Tatius dedicated altars to a series of deities including Vulcan.

The Floralia was a festival of ancient Roman religion in honor of the goddess Flora, held on 27 April during the Republican era, or 28 April in the Julian calendar. The festival included Ludi Florae, the "Games of Flora", which lasted for six days under the empire.

The festival had a licentious, pleasure-seeking atmosphere. In contrast to many festivals which had a patrician character, the games of Flora were plebeian in nature.

The Septimontium was a proto-urban festival celebrated in ancient Rome by montani, residents of the seven (sept-) communities associated with the hills or peaks of Rome (montes): Oppius, Palatium, Velia, Fagutal, Cermalus, Caelius, and Cispius. The Septimontium was celebrated in September, or, according to later calendars, on 11 December. It was not a public festival in the sense of feriae populi, according to Varro, who sees it as an urban analog to the rural Paganalia.

The etymology from septem ("seven") has been doubted; the festival may instead take its name from saept-, "divided," in the sense of "partitioned off, palisaded." The montes include two divisions of the Palatine Hill and three of the Esquiline Hill, among the traditional "seven hills of Rome".

The Roman festival of Larentalia was held on 23 December but was ordered to be observed twice a year by Augustus; by some supposed to be in honour of the Lares, a kind of domestic genii, or divinities, worshipped in houses, and esteemed the guardians and protectors of families, supposed to reside in chimney-corners. Others have attributed this feast in honour of Acca Larentia, the nurse of Romulus and Remus, and wife of Faustulus. During this festival, offerings were made to the dead, usually at altars dedicated to Acca Larentia. A sacrifice was typically offered in the Velabrum, the spot where Acca Larentia is buried. Larentalia was part of a series of ancient Roman festivals and holidays celebrating the end of the old year and the start of the new.

In ancient Roman religion, the Cerealia /sɪəriːˈeɪliə/ was the major festival celebrated for the grain goddess Ceres. It was held for seven days from mid- to late April. Various agricultural festivals were held in the "last half of April". The Cerealia celebrated the harvest, and may have begun on the 19th. Surviving descriptions of Rome's city festival of Ceres are presumably urban versions of an originally rustic, agricultural festival. In his treatise on agriculture, Cato the Elder recommends that farmers sacrifice a sow (porca praecidanea) to Ceres, before the harvest.

The Cerealia is listed on the oldest Roman calendars, and its institution in the city is attributed to the semi-legendary King Numa, in the earliest Regal period. The festival's archaic, agricultural nature is shown by a nighttime ritual described by Ovid. Blazing torches were tied to the tails of live foxes, who were released, possibly into the Circus Maximus. The origin and purpose of this ritual is unknown; it may have been intended to cleanse the growing crops and protect them from disease and vermin, or to add warmth and vitality to their growth. Ovid offers an aetiological explanation: long ago, at ancient Carleoli, a farm-boy caught a fox stealing chickens and tried to burn it alive. The fox escaped, ablaze; in its flight it set fire to the fields and their crops. As these were both sacred to Ceres, foxes are punished at her festival ever since.

In ancient Rome, the Parentalia (Latin pronunciation: [parɛnˈtaːlɪ.a]) or dies parentales ([ˈdɪ.eːs parɛnˈtaːleːs], "ancestral days") was a nine-day festival held in honour of family ancestors, beginning on 13 February.

Although the Parentalia was a holiday on the Roman religious calendar, its observances were mainly domestic and familial. The importance of the family to the Roman state, however, was expressed by public ceremonies on the opening day, the Ides of February, when a Vestal conducted a rite for the collective di parentes of Rome at the tomb of Tarpeia.

The Veneralia was an ancient Roman festival celebrated April 1 (the Kalends of Aprilis) in honor of Venus Verticordia ("Venus the changer of hearts") and Fortuna Virilis ("Manly" or "Virile Fortune").

The cult of Venus Verticordia was established in 220 BC, just before the beginning of the Second Punic War, in response to advice from a Sibylline oracle, when a series of prodigies was taken to signify divine displeasure at sexual offenses among Romans of every category and class, including several men and three Vestal Virgins. Her statue was dedicated by a young woman, chosen as the most pudica (sexually pure) in Rome by a committee of Roman matrons. At first, the statue was probably housed within the temple to Fortuna Virilis. This cult, older than that to Venus Verticordia but possibly perceived as weak or gone to seed, may have benefited from the moral and religious support of Venus as a relatively new but senior deity; for Ovid, Venus's acceptance of the epithet and its responsibilities represented the goddess's own change of heart. In 114 BC Venus Verticordia was given her own temple. She was meant to persuade Romans of both sexes and every class, whether married or unmarried, to cherish the traditional sexual proprieties and morality known to please the gods and benefit the State. During the Veneralia, her cult image was taken from her temple to the men's baths, where it was undressed and washed in warm water by her female attendants, then garlanded with myrtle. At the Veneralia, women and men asked Venus Verticordia for her help in affairs of the heart, sex, betrothal and marriage. Fortuna Virilis was given cult on the same day.

The epulones (Latin for "feasters"; sing. epulo) was a religious organization of Ancient Rome. They arranged feasts and public banquets at festivals and games (ludi). They constituted one of the four great religious corporations (quattuor amplissima collegia) of ancient Roman priests.

The Regifugium ("Flight of the King") or Fugalia ("Festival of the Flight") was an annual religious festival that took place in ancient Rome every February 24 (Latin: a.d. VI Kal. Mart.).

Polemius Silvius (fl. 5th century) was the author of an annotated Julian calendar that attempted to integrate the traditional Roman festival cycle with the new Christian holy days. His calendar, also referred to as a laterculus or fasti, dates to around 448–449. He was active in southeastern Gaul.