The tradition & historical record
3 min read · 2 sourcesVestalia was a Roman religious festival in honor of Vesta, 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 — on Vestalia. On the first day of festivities the penus Vestae (sanctum sanctorum of the temple of Vesta which was usually curtained off) was opened, for the only time during the year, at which women offered sacrifices. 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. The animal consecrated to Vesta, the donkey, was crowned with garlands of flowers and bits of bread on 9 June. Ovid says that donkeys were adorned with necklaces of bread-bits in memory of the myth where Vesta is nearly violated by 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. The final day, 15 June, was Quando Stercum Delatum Fas ["once the dung has been removed, lawcourt business is permitted"]. 1
Modern sources
Bowerstock, Glenn Warren; Brown, Peter; Grabar, Oleg (1999). Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-51173-5. Brulé, Pierre (1987). La Fille d'Athènes: la religion des filles à l'époque classique: mythes, cultes et société (in French). Paris: Belles lettres. ISBN 978-2-25160-363-6. Fraschetti, Augusto (2001). Roman Women. Translated by Lappin, Linda. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-26093-8. Littlewood, R. Joy (2006). A Commentary on Ovid: Fasti book VI. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19927-134-4. Marouzeau, Jules (2006). Revue des études latines (in French). Société d'Édition Les Belles Lettres. Mommsen, Theodor (1894). The History of Rome. Vol. I. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Newlands, Carole Elizabeth (1995). Playing with Time: Ovid and the Fasti, Volume 55. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3080-1. 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Vestalia”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
Vestalia is Roman religious festival, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. 2