FORDICI´DIA
FORDICI´DIA the second of the two festivals of the
Curiae (the first being the
FORNACALIA), held on the 15th of April. Cows in calf （
fordae, hordae boves, Varro, Ovid, Festus) were
sacrificed under the direction of the Pontiffs and Vestals, some in the
Capitol, others in the thirty curies (apparently one for each), others again
outside the walls of Rome. The unborn calves were extracted and burnt
separately by the senior Vestal (
Virgo Vestalis
maxima), and these ashes, together with the blood of the October
horse, were used six days later for purposes of lustration at the
PARILIA (
Ov. Fast. 4.629-640, cf. 733 ff.).
The Fordicidia was one of a series of spring festivals, all celebrated at the
opening season of the year on behalf of the fertility of the crops and the
increase of cattle. Other forms of the word are
Fordicalia
(J. Lydus,
de Mensib. 4.49),
Hordicalia (Varr.
R. R. 2.5.6),
Hordicidia
(Fest.
Epit. p. 102 M.); but all the Calendars, and Varro,
L. L. 6.15, have
Fordicidia.
Of the two forms of the adjective,
forda or
horda bos, forda is the older (cf.
fasena = harena) and better attested (Ovid; Varro,
L. L.). (Marquardt,
Staatsverw. 3.192 ;
cf. pp. 273 n., 331, 350.)
[
W.W]
