Parentalia

This study looks at the Parentalia, a festival of the dead in Ancient Rome, between the years 200 B.C.E and 200 C.E. Dolansky argues this was not just a ceremony commemorating ancestors, but all participants deceased relatives.

F. Dolansky, 'Honouring the Family Dead on the Parentalia: Ceremony, Spectacle and Memory', Phoenix 65 (2011), 125-157

Why were the offerings of Parentalia significant? Ovid's poetry sheds some light on this; wine and purple flowers symbolised animal sacrifice which may have been too expensive for many. The corn sprinkled with salt was a common religious practice which therefore linked families across generations.

How long did Parentalia last? Parentalia, according to Ovid, lasted nine consecutive days from the 13th of February.

What did the rites involve? At the start of the ceremony, Feb. 13, or 'Netastus', there were to be no legal proceedings or citizen assemblies. Instead, a vestal virgin was to perform a sacrifice to begin the festivities. 'Lectisternium' were the large banquets which were encouraged by the upper echelon. Rites were a regular occurence but sacrifices happened once or twice as they were not practical for the majority of people.

Where were the rites celebrated? Ovid writes that celebrants should leave their offerings to the dead on potsherd in the road so that the dead can walk the streets and collect them. .

Who participated in Parentalia? Parentalia was celebrated by the relatives of the deceased, but sometimes individuals set up their own Parentalia before their death. L. Veterius Nepos left 4000 sesteros to the Herclareses for sacrifices and to have his tomb adorned with roses.

Dolansky breaks this question down into five sections

What was the Parentalia (Festival of the Dead)?

Dolansky argues that the Parentalia did not simply concern honouring ancestors, but was much more emotive and could honour both vertical and horizontal deceased family members. - Many historians believe that the Parentalia was to honour parents and elder ancestors to avoid the ‘wrath’ of the dead. This is primarily because it ‘seems logical’ as the name of the festival is largely assumed to come from the latin ‘parens’ which means parents. Also, mothers and fathers were the primary recipients of rites. - However, Festus denotes that ‘those versed in law say that grandfather and great-grandfathers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers are called by the name parentes’. - Furthermore, Digest adds further generations back can be tied into this title. Dolansky’s perspective adds this can refer to family members both horizontally and vertically related as emotion is involved in a Parentalia ceremony as it was really a 'solemn' affair. - Dolansky uses the example of Caecilia Marcellina who used parentes in a commemoration which references not only his mother and father, but also his brother. - In addition to this, Ausoniu writes several emotive poems about loss where he uses this terminology to mean ‘relative’ rather than ‘parent’. Therefore, Dolansky concludes that both the perspective that this is a ‘festival of ancestors’ or a ‘cult of parents’ is problematic; instead, Parentalia honours all relatives, such as Ovid and Ausoniu did in their contemporary poetry they used to honour their deceased during Parentalia.

'In this study of Roman wills, Champlin (1991: 181) contends that "[t]he formal cult of the dead is not explicitly important to testators" since only a few dozen inscriptions out of several thousand epitaphs record foundations to provide for celebrating the Parentalia and other occasions. He adds that there is also little interest in these rites in literature'.

'Many Romans, however, as freedmen and women or their children, had no ancestral lines to speak of whatsoever. Their vertical bonds extended only in one direction- toward the future. Consequently, they were limited during the Parentalia in terms of family members they could honour, and perhaps even more so with respect to the family members they could rely upon for their own commemorative rites when the time came'.

However, this cannot be assumed of all Romans...