PARI´LIA
PARI´LIA or
PALI´LIA, a
festival celebrated at Rome and in the country on the 21st of April, in
honour of Pales. As regards the form of the word, there is no doubt that
Parilia is more correct than
Palilia (Marius Victorinus, p. 25; Prob.
ad
Verg. G. 3,
1;
Calend. Maff.;
Ephem. Epigr. 3.7): the derivation, however,
is not, as some ancient writers imagined, from
parere, a
partu pecoris, but from Pales, the substitution of Parilia for
Palilia being by “dissimilation” to prevent the repetition of
the letter
l. just as popul
aris, &c. are written instead of--
alis, or as
caeruleus is formed
from
caelum. (Roby,
Latin
Grammar, 1.176; Peile,
Lt. Etymology, p. 280;
Corssen,
Lat. Sprache, 1.80.) The festival was a lustral rite
at the opening of spring, for the lustration of the flocks and herds, over
which Pales presided. The 21st of April was the day on which, according to
tradition, Romulus began the building of the city, and the festival was
therefore also solemnised as the
dies natalitius of
Rome (Fest. s. v. Parilibus;
Cic. de
Div. 2.4. 7, 98; Varro,
R. R. 2.1;
Plin. Nat. 18.247;
Dionys. A. R. 1.88); and some of the rites
customary in later times were said to have been performed by Romulus when he
fixed the pomerium. Ovid (
Ov. Fast.
4.731-805) gives a description of the rites of the Parilia, which
clearly shows that he regarded it as a shepherd festival, as it must
originally have been when the Romans really were shepherds and husbandmen,
and still continued to be among the country people (Dionys.
l.c.; Varro, ap. Schol. Pers. 1.72), for in the city
itself it must have come to be regarded principally as the birthday feast of
Rome (cf.
Ov. Fast. 4.106).
The sacred rites were in old times directed by the king, who made offerings
for the people: afterwards his place was taken by the Pontifex Maximus. The
first part of the solemnities, as described by Ovid, was a public
purification by fire and smoke. The things burnt in order to produce this
purifying smoke were the blood of the
October-horse [
OCTOBER EQUUS], the ashes
of the calves sacrificed at the
FORDICIDIA and bean-straw, which were all fetched from the Atrium
Vestae. The people were also sprinkled with water; they washed their hands
in spring-water, and drank milk mixed with must. (Ovid,
Fast. l.c.; compare Propert. 5.1, 20.) When towards the
evening the shepherds had fed their flocks, laurel-branches were used as
brooms for cleaning the stables, and for sprinkling water through them, and
lastly the stables were adorned with laurel-boughs. Hereupon the shepherds
burnt sulphur, rosemary, fir-wood, and incense, and made the smoke pass
through the stables to purify them; the flocks themselves were likewise
purified by this smoke. The sacrifices which were offered on this day
consisted of
[p. 2.348]cakes, millet, and milk. The
shepherds then offered a prayer to Pales. After this heaps of hay and straw
were lighted, and the sheep were more effectually purified by being
compelled to run through the fire, and the shepherds themselves did the
same. The festival was concluded by a feast in the open air. (
Tib. 2.5,
87; compare
Propert. 5.4, 75.)
The ludi circenses on this day (mentioned in the Calendars) were not properly
a part of the Parilia, but were instituted in honour of the battle of Munda,
fought on March 17th, B.C. 45, the news of which reached Rome on April 20th:
these games were discontinued (
D. C. 45.6), and,
having been re-instituted by Hadrian, were held annually till the fifth
century (Mommsen,
C. I. L. 1.391). On this day also Hadrian
dedicated the temple of Rome and Venus, and, as it was more than ever
connected with the birthday of the city, we find the festival called
Ῥωμαῖα (Athenaeus, viii. p. 361 f).
There is to this day in Rome a ceremony of blessing the animals and
sprinkling them with lustral water; but, though there is a certain
resemblance, it would be an error to treat it as a survival of the Parilia.
The Christian ceremony is on St. Anthony's Day, in the middle of January,
nor is there any trace of continuity, such as has been noticed in the case
of the Lupercalia.
[
L.S] [
G.E.M]
