:For the genus of marine molluscs, see ''Oscilla'' (gastropod). ''Oscilla'' is a word applied in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

usage to small figures, most commonly masks or faces, which were hung up as offerings to various deities, either for propitiation or expiation, and in connection with festivals and other ceremonies. It is usually taken as the plural of ''oscillum'' (diminutive of ''os''), a little face. As the ''oscilla'' swung in the wind, ''oscillare'' came to mean to swing, hence in English

oscillation Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

, the act of swinging backwards and forwards, periodic motion to and fro, hence any variation or fluctuation, actual or figurative. Many ''oscilla'' or masks, representing the head of

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

or of different rustic deities, are still preserved. There is a marble ''oscillum'' of Bacchus in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. Others still in existence are made of earthenware, but it seems probable that wax and wood were the ordinary materials. Small rudely shaped figures of wool, known as ''pilae'', were also hung up in the same way as the ''oscilla''. The festivals at which the hanging of ''oscilla'' took place were: * The '' Sementivae Feriae'', or sowing festivals, and the ''Paganalia'', the country festivals of the tutelary deities of the ''pagi''; both took place in January. Here the ''oscilla'' were hung on trees, such as the vine and the olive, oak and the pine, and represented the faces of

Liber In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, mythology, Liber ( , ; "the free one"), also known as Liber Pater ("the free Father"), was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron de ...

, Bacchus or other deity connected with the cultivation of the soil (

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

, ''

Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek language, Greek word , ''geōrgiká'', i.e. "agricultural hings) the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from bei ...

'' ii.382-396). * The '' Feriae Latinae''; in this case games were played, among them swinging (''oscillatio)''; cf. the Greek festival of Aeora (see Erigone). Festus (s.v. ''Oscillum'', ed. Muller, p. 194) says that this swinging was called ''oscillatio'' because the swingers masked their faces (''os celare'') out of shame. * At the '' Compitalia'', Festus says (Paulus ex Fest., ed. Muller, p. 239) that ''pilae'' and ''effigies viriles et muliebres'' made of wool were hung at the crossroads to the

Lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ) were Tutelary deity#Ancient Rome, guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an ama ...

, the number of ''pilae'' equalling that of the slaves of the family, the ''effigies'' that of the children; the purpose being to induce the Lares to spare the living, and to be content with the ''pilae'' and images. This has led to the generally accepted conclusion that the custom of hanging these ''oscilla'' represents an older practice of expiating

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...

. There is also no doubt a connection with the ''

lustratio ''Lustratio'' was an ancient Greek and ancient Roman purification ritual. It included a procession and in some circumstances the sacrifice of a pig (''sus''), a ram (''ovis''), and a bull (''taurus'') (''suovetaurilia''). The name is the source ...

'' in that both rely on purification by the air.

References

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates Ancient Roman religion