Furrinalia

{{Short description|Roman festival}} In ancient Roman religion, the '''Furrinalia''' (or '''Furinalia''') was an annual festival held on 25 July to celebrate the rites ''(sacra)'' of the goddess Furrina. Varro notes that the festival was a public holiday ''(feriae publicae dies)''. Both the festival and the goddess had become obscure<ref>Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 5.84.</ref> even to the Romans of the Late Republic; Varro (mid-1st century BC) notes that few people in his day even know her name.<ref>''Nunc vix nomen notum paucis'': Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 6.19.</ref> One of the fifteen ''flamines'' (high priests of official cult) was assigned to her, indicating her archaic stature,<ref>Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 6.19: ''cuius deae honos apud antiquos, nam ei sacra instituta annua et flamen attributus''.</ref> and she had a sacred grove ''(lucus)'' on the Janiculum, which may have been the location of the festival.<ref>Ken Dowden, ''European Paganism: The Realities of Cult from Antiquity to the Middle Ages'' (Routledge, 2000), p. 239.</ref> Furrina was associated with water, and the Furrinalia follows the Lucaria (Festival of the Grove) on 19 and 21 July and the Neptunalia on 23 July, a grouping that may reflect a concern for summer drought.<ref>Robert Schilling, "Neptune," ''Roman and European Mythologies'' (University of Chicago Press, 1992, from the French edition of 1981), p. 138. This was the earlier view of Georg Wissowa.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Lucus_Furrinae.html Lucus Furrinae] entry in ''Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome''

Category:Ancient Roman festivals Category:July observances Category:Summer holidays (Northern Hemisphere)