Lemuralia
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The Lemuralia or Lemuria was an annual event in the religion of ancient Rome, during which the Romans performed
rite Rite may refer to: Religion * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite (Christianity), sacred rituals in the Christian religion * Ritual family, Christian liturgical traditions; often also called ''liturgical rites'' * Catholic particular ch ...
s to
exorcise Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...
any malevolent and fearful ghosts of the restless dead from their homes. These unwholesome spectres, the ''lemures'' or ''larvae'' were propitiated with chants and offerings of black
bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...
s.


Observance

In the
Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...
the three days of the festival were 9, 11, and 13 May. Lemuria's name and
origin myth An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place a ...
, according to
Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
, derives from a supposed ''Remuria'' instituted by
Romulus Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...
to appease the angry spirit of his murdered twin, Remus. The philosopher Porphyry points out that Remus' death was violent, premature, and a matter of regret for Romulus. Toynbee defines ''lemures'' as ordinary ''di Manes'', made harmful and spiteful to the living because "kinless and neglected" in death and after it, having no rites or memorial, free to leave their dead body but unable to enter the underworld or afterlife. A less common but more "mischievous and dangerous" type of ghost, known as ''larvae'' was thought to wander about the house with the ''lemures''; the name, ''larva'', is a rarity in any source, and seems to have also been used for a frightening type of theater mask. Dolansky believes that the ''Lemuralia'' was meant to help those family members who had died in circumstances that prevented or delayed their admission to the afterlife; those who had died "before their time," in their childhood or youth, through disease, war, assault or misadventure, or in circumstances that prevented their being given proper burial or funeral rites. Ovid's is the only detailed account of ''Lemuria''. The householder, perhaps with others, walks barefoot through the house at midnight. He washes his hands in spring water, takes his thumb between the fingers of his hand, to ward off any ghosts, then takes a mouthful of black beans and spits them out behind him or throws them behind himself, over his shoulder for the hungry ''lemures'' to gather, unseen. He chants "I send these; with these beans I redeem me and mine" () nine times; then the rest of the household clashes bronze pots while repeating, "Ghosts of my fathers and ancestors, be gone!" (''Manes exite paterni!''). The householder washes his hands in spring-water, three times. When he turns to see the results of the offering, or exorcism, no ''lemures'' are to be seen. Ovid uses both ''lemur'' and ''Manes'' for what are presumably the same ghosts, at the same festival, under different names but with little or no individuation other than differing levels of malice or benevolence. Presumably there was some overlap in identity. ''Larvae'', on the other hand, were thought to have been entirely unforgiving, even demonic. Some of the literature presents them as persecuting the living, and torturing bad souls in Hades. During the ''Lemuralia'' all temples were closed, and no marriages were allowed. The three days of the ''Lemuralia'', and the performance of an
Argei The rituals of the Argei were archaic religious observances in ancient Rome that took place on March 16 and March 17, and again on May 14 or May 15. By the time of Augustus, the meaning of these rituals had become obscure even to those who p ...
ceremony in the same month, supposedly a substitute for former human sacrifices, made the whole month of May unlucky for marriages. This is one possible explanation for Ovid's ''Mense Maio malae nubunt'', in his ''Fasti'' 6.219-234, cited by
Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
in his ''Adagia'', 1.4.9; in English roughly "they marry badly who marry in May".


Legacy

According to some cultural historians, Lemuria was Christianized as a
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
commemorating all Christian martyrs. Christians in 4th-century Roman
Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...
held this feast on 13 May. Later, on 13 May in 609 or 610, Pope Boniface IV re-consecrated the Pantheon of Rome to the Blessed Virgin and ''all the martyrs''; the feast of that ''dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres'' has been celebrated at Rome ever since and started the feast of
All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the Church, whether they are know ...
.An attempt to connect the ''cultus'' of All Saints' and All Souls' Day with the Roman
Parentalia In ancient Rome, the Parentalia () or ''dies parentales'' (, "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 observ ...
, observed however in February, is sometimes made: e.g. Gordon J. Laing, ''Survivals of Roman Religion'' (Boston 1931) p. 84: "...the thirteenth of May, which was one of the days of the Roman festival of the dead, the Lemuria. Whether there is any connection between these dates or not, the rites of All Saints' Day are a survival not of the Lemuria but of the Parentalia."


See also

*
All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the Church, whether they are know ...
*
Anthesteria The Anthesteria (; ) was one of the four Athenian festivals in honor of Dionysus. It was held each year from the 11th to the 13th of the month of Anthesterion, around the time of the January or February full moon. The three days of the feast were ...
* Dziady *
Feralia Ferālia was an ancient Roman public festival Dumézil, Georges. ''Archaic Roman Religion''. p. 366. celebrating the Manes (Roman spirits of the dead, particularly the souls of deceased individuals) which fell on 21 February as recorded by ...
*
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
*
Parentalia In ancient Rome, the Parentalia () or ''dies parentales'' (, "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 observ ...
* Radonitsa * Setsubun, a similar Japanese custom


Notes


Sources

*http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Lemuralia.html Smith, William, 1875. ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemuria (Festival) Ancient Roman festivals May observances Observances honoring the dead