# Cerealia > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cerealia > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cerealia.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerealia > Source revision: 1354947102 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Ancient Roman spring festival}} [[File:Caius Memmius denier Gallica 21993 revers.jpg|thumb|A [denarius](/source/denarius) of 56 BC commemorating the first staging of the Cerealia by a Gaius Memmius serving as [aedile](/source/aedile), depicting a seated Ceres with unusually long tresses, and holding her characteristic torch and stalks of grain]] In [ancient Roman religion](/source/Religion_in_ancient_Rome), the '''Cerealia''' {{IPAc-en|s|iːr|iː|'|ei|l|i|@}} was the major [festival](/source/Roman_festival) celebrated for the grain goddess [Ceres](/source/Ceres_(mythology)). It was held for seven days in the latter part of [April](/source/Aprilis), along with various agricultural festivals during the month. The Cerealia celebrated the harvest, and may have begun on the 19th.[Barbette Stanley Spaeth](/source/Barbette_Spaeth), ''The Roman Goddess Ceres'' (University of Texas Press, 1996), pp. 36–37. 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](/source/Cato_the_Elder) recommends that farmers sacrifice a sow (''porca praecidanea'') to Ceres, before the harvest.Spaeth, 1996, p.36, citing Cato the elder, ''On agriculture'', 134W. Warde Fowler, ''The Roman festivals of the period of the Republic'', Macmillan and Co., 1899, Mens Aprilis, ff. The Cerealia is listed on the oldest Roman calendars, and its institution in the city is attributed to the semi-legendary [King Numa](/source/Numa_Pompilius), in the earliest [Regal period](/source/Kingdom_of_Rome). The festival's archaic, agricultural nature is shown by a nighttime ritual described by [Ovid](/source/Ovid). Blazing torches were tied to the tails of live foxes, who were released, possibly into the [Circus Maximus](/source/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](/source/aition) 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.Ovid, ''Fasti'' 4. cited in Spaeth, 1996, pp. 36-37 ''[Ludi](/source/Ludi) Ceriales'' or "Games of Ceres" were held as part of the festival in the Circus Maximus. Ovid mentions a ritual in which Ceres's search for her lost daughter [Proserpina](/source/Proserpina) was represented by women clothed in white, running about with lighted [torch](/source/torch)es; this probably refers to [Thesmophoria](/source/Thesmophoria) elements in Ceres's native cults, and the identification of Rome's native goddess [Libera](/source/Libera_(mythology)) with [Proserpina](/source/Proserpina)Spaeth, 1996, pp. 12-27 During the [Republican era](/source/Roman_Republic), the Cerealia and most other public religious festivals were organised by the plebeian [aedile](/source/aedile)s. Theirs was an elected position, with both political and religious obligations; Ceres was one of the patron deities of the ''[plebs](/source/plebs)'' or common people. The Cerealia was an occasion for exclusively plebeian banquets.Hayne, Léonie. “THE FIRST CERIALIA.” L’Antiquité Classique, vol. 60, 1991, p. 132. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41655332. Accessed 26 Jun. 2022. The Cerealia festival included ''[ludi circenses](/source/ludi_circenses)'' (circus games), which opened with a horse race in the Circus Maximus. The starting place was just below the Aventine Temple of Ceres, [Liber](/source/Liber) and [Libera](/source/Libera_(mythology)).[T.P. Wiseman](/source/T.P._Wiseman), ''Remus: A Roman Myth'' (Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 137. After around 175 BC, the Cerealia included ''[ludi scaenici](/source/ludi_scaenici)'', theatrical performances with religious dimensions, held April 12–18. The plebeian aedile Gaius Memmius is credited with staging the first of these ''ludi scaenici'', and distributing a new commemorative [denarius](/source/denarius) coin in honor of the event. This was an indirect appeal for continued political support in the distribution of free or subsidised grain, a particular interest of the plebs.Hayne, 1991, pp. 131-140 His innovations led to his claim to have presented "the first Cerealia". Rome's traditional religious festivals, including the ''Cerealia'', were still managed by aediles in the Imperial era, until the banning of pagan cults and festivals. ''Cerealia'' is marked in the [Calendar of Philocalus](/source/Calendar_of_Philocalus), 354 AD[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Chronography_of_354 Tertullian.org: Chronography of 354] Near London in the 1880s a sea-side "vegetarian home" ([bed and breakfast](/source/Bed_and_breakfast)) was named Cerealia, probably from the word [cereal](/source/cereal) (grain).{{cite news |title=Vegetarians in London |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18871002 |access-date=29 December 2024 |agency=California Digital Newspaper Collection |volume=42 |issue=13911 |publisher=Daily Alta California |date=October 2, 1887 |location=San Francisco, California, USA |page=9}} == See also == * [Roman festivals](/source/Roman_festivals) * [Eleusinian Mysteries](/source/Eleusinian_Mysteries) == References == {{Reflist}} == External links == *[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Cerealia.html Lacus Curtius site:William Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,'' 1875:] Cerealia *[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=cerialia-cn A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) ] {{Roman religion (festival)}} Category:Ancient Roman games festivals Category:April observances Category:Religious festivals in Italy Category:Ceres (mythology) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cerealia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerealia) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerealia?action=history)). 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