# Vestalia > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vestalia > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vestalia.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestalia > Source revision: 1292592525 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Roman festival honoring Vesta}} {{about|the Roman festival|the plateau on 4 Vesta|Vestalia Terra}} {{Infobox holiday |holiday_name = Vestalia |type = [Religious](/source/Religious) |longtype = [Classical Roman religion](/source/Religion_in_ancient_Rome) |image = Carl Friedrich Deckler Vestalin mit Efeugirlande.jpg |image_size = |caption = [Vestal virgin](/source/Vestal_virgins) hanging an ivy wreath. |observedby = [Romans](/source/Ancient_Rome) |date = June 7 – 15 |celebrations = |observances = |relatedto = }} '''Vestalia''' was a Roman religious festival in honor of [Vesta](/source/Vesta_(mythology)), the goddess of the hearth and the burning continuation of the sacred fire of Rome. It was held from 7–15 June, and was reserved as a women's-only event. Domestic and family life in general were represented by the festival of the goddess of the house and of the spirits of the storechamber — Vesta and the [Penates](/source/Penates) — on ''Vestalia''.{{harvnb|Mommsen|1894|p=164}} On the first day of festivities the ''penus Vestae'' (''[sanctum sanctorum](/source/sanctum_sanctorum)'' of the [temple of Vesta](/source/temple_of_Vesta) which was usually curtained off) was opened, for the only time during the year, at which women offered sacrifices.{{harvnb|Marouzeau|2006|p=39}} As long as the curtain remained open, mothers could come, barefoot and disheveled, to leave offerings to the goddess in exchange for a blessing to them and their family.{{harvnb|Brulé|1987|p=112}} The animal consecrated to Vesta, the donkey, was crowned with garlands of flowers and bits of bread on 9 June. [Ovid](/source/Ovid) says that donkeys were adorned with necklaces of bread-bits in memory of the myth where Vesta is nearly violated by [Priapus](/source/Priapus). In that myth, it is the untimely bray of a donkey that startles Priapus and causes him to flee. Before that, he says donkeys were honored on 9 June in thanks for the services they provided in the bakeries.{{harvnb|Littlewood|2006|p=103}}[Ovid](/source/Ovid), ''Fasti'' VI. 319-48{{harvnb|Fraschetti|2001|p=29}} The final day, 15 June, was ''Quando Stercum Delatum Fas'' ["once the dung has been removed, lawcourt business is permitted"]. The ''penus Vestae'' was solemnly closed, the ''Flaminica Dialis'' observed mourning, and the temple was subjected to a purification called ''stercoratio'': the filth was swept from the temple and carried next by the route called ''clivus Capitolinus'' and then into the Tiber. The military ''[Feriale Duranum](/source/Feriale_Duranum)'' of AD 224 records the first day of ''Vestalia'' as ''Vesta {{not a typo|apperit[ur]}}'' and the last day as ''Vesta cluditur''.{{harvnb|Bowerstock|Brown|Grabar|1999|p=449}} ==See also== * [Roman festivals](/source/Roman_festivals) * [Carmentalia](/source/Carmentalia) * [Floralia](/source/Floralia) * [Cerealia](/source/Cerealia) * [Fornacalia](/source/Fornacalia) * [Opiconsivia](/source/Opiconsivia) * [Divalia](/source/Divalia) * [Furrinalia](/source/Furrinalia) * [Matralia](/source/Matralia) * [Lemuria (festival)](/source/Lemuria_(festival)) * [Matronalia](/source/Matronalia) * [Liberalia](/source/Liberalia) * [Parilia](/source/Parilia) * [Rosalia](/source/Rosalia_(festival)), a festival of roses celebrated throughout the Roman Empire * [May Queen](/source/May_Queen) ==References== {{reflist}} ===Modern sources=== * {{cite book |last1=Bowerstock |first1=Glenn Warren|first2=Peter |last2=Brown |first3=Oleg |last3=Grabar |title=Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |year=1999 |isbn=0-674-51173-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lateantiquitygui00bowe}} * {{cite book |last=Brulé |first=Pierre |title=La Fille d'Athènes : la religion des filles à l'époque classique : mythes, cultes et société |location=Paris |publisher=Belles lettres |year=1987 |language=French |isbn=978-2-25160-363-6}} * {{cite book |last=Fraschetti |first=Augusto |translator-last=Lappin |translator-first=Linda |title=Roman Women |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-226-26093-8 }} * {{cite book |last=Littlewood |first=R. Joy |title=A Commentary on Ovid: Fasti book VI |location=Oxford; New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-19927-134-4}} * {{cite book |last=Marouzeau |first=Jules |title=Revue des études latines |year=2006 |publisher=Société d'Édition Les Belles Lettres |language=fr }} * {{cite book|last=Mommsen |first=Theodor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EEZAAAAYAAJ |title=The History of Rome |volume=I |year=1894}} {{PD-notice}} * {{cite book |last=Newlands |first=Carole Elizabeth |title=Playing with Time: Ovid and the Fasti, Volume 55 |year=1995 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-3080-1}} {{Roman religion (festival)}} Category:Ancient Roman festivals Category:June observances Category:Summer festivals Category:Vesta (mythology) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vestalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestalia) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestalia?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.