The ''Iunonalia'' or Junonalia was a

Roman festival Festivals in ancient Rome were a very important part of Roman religious life during both the Republican and Imperial eras, and one of the primary features of the Roman calendar. ''Feriae'' ("holidays" in the sense of "holy days"; singular ...

in honor of Juno, held on March 7 (the Nones). Among extant Roman calendars, it appears only in the Calendar of Filocalus (354 AD), and was added to the festival calendar after the mid-1st century AD. The Junonalia is attested also in a fragmentary poem ''De Iunonalibus'', attributed to Claudian. In it, Juno is addressed as mistress of the celestial pole, and the spouse and sister of the king of heaven. Her function as a goddess of marital bonds is also noted. Although the text is conjectural at this point, she may be asked to grant a return. The Junonalia may have concluded a three-day festival begun March 5 with the Isidis Navigium, the "Sailing of Isis." In the '' Metamorphoses'' of

Apuleius Apuleius ( ), also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124 – after 170), was a Numidians, Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman Empire, Roman Numidia (Roman province), province ...

, Isis is addressed as Queen of Heaven, and by the 2nd century a number of goddesses, including Juno, shared the epithet ''Caelestis''.Stephen Benko, ''The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology'' (Brill, 2004), pp. 112–114.

References

{{Roman religion (festival) Ancient Roman festivals March observances Festivals of Hera Religious festivals in Italy Juno (mythology)