Felix Feriae Augusti

Twenty centuries have passed but in Italy the feriae Augusti is still celebrated, or the Ferragosto whose literal meaning is "Augustus' rest". The feast was established in 18 AD to celebrate the end of the harvests and together with the other feasts that fell in the same period, it was a moment of rest between the hard work of the harvests and those to be faced with the vintage and sowing.
The feast of Augustus was set for August 1st, then followed the feast of Diana which was celebrated on August 13th, it was then the turn of the Consualia which were held on August 21st and lastly the feast of the goddess Opi who fell on 25 of August and among these were anniversaries and other celebrations; the succession of festivals that lasted at least 3 days each allowed the people of the whole empire to have an adequate period of rest.
The feriae began on 1st August, the day on which the anniversary of the dedicatio of the Temple of Mars Ultor was celebrated and was the commemorative feast of the Philippi battle; on the same day the feast of the Goddess Spes fell and one had to go to her Temple at the Forum Boarium; On 5th August the Goddess of Health was celebrated at Templum Salutis on the Quirinal Hill, on 12th August was the day on which Hercules Invictus was to be remembered and the Goddess Isis was celebrated.
The most important festival of the month fell on August 13 and was in honor of Diana, patroness of moon phases and motherhood; patricians and plebeians went together to the Temple of the goddess that was on the Aventine and slaves also attended the party because Diana was the parent of all men. It was a party that involved men and women and the rites lasted the whole day; women, who during the year hung votive tablets in the temple of the goddess and consecrated their clothes, on this day invoked her above all as Lucina, protector of the childbirth. The hunters dedicated weapons and tools, wild boar teeth and deer horns to her and led their dogs, especially if sick, to the temple. Later the crowd moved from the temple of Diana to the wood, which had been lit with torches, and everyone hung his vow on the branches of the trees. The sacred forest to Diana was located between the slopes of the Aventine and the Tiber and was known as Lucus Semeles, a wood that is also mentioned by Ovid to complain of the clamor during the festivals that were held there .
Diana was highly revered by Romans because she was the goddess who presided over the rhythms of life. Her cult continued still during Christianity and since the church was unable to cancel , it was transformed replacing the virgin Diana with the virgin Mary and the evolution of the cult also involved another lunar divinity Semele, other of Dionysus, of which the 15 August was celebrated the welcome, body and soul, in Olympus by Jupiter; today on August 15th the Catholic Christian church celebrates the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
On 17th August Portunus, the god who protected the ports, was celebrated together Janus, the god of the past and future; on August 19th it was the turn of the Vinalia Altera where the feast of ripe grapes was celebrated and the flamen dialis, the priest of Jupiter, started the harvest with a propitiatory rite.
On August 21 the Consualia were celebrated, the feast dedicated to Consus, the God of the fields. The feast that had been decided by Romulus and it can almost be considered the founding feast of Rome because when the Romolus institute it, invited the neighboring populations, the Crustumensi, the Fidenati, the Ceninensi, the Antmnati and the Sabini to the celebrations. The party ended with the legendary Rape of the Sabines.
During this ancient festival people exchanging gifts and greetings of "Bonas ferias consuales"; when Augusto established the feriae Augusti the formula was changed to "Bonas ferias augustales" from which derives the modern wish of "Buon ferragosto". The celebrations included major horse racing across the empire.
The feriae ended on August 25 with the feast of Opis, an archaic goddess whose cult was brought to Rome by the Sabines; the celebrations were called Opiconsiva and secret rites were held in his sanctuary at the Regia in which only the Vestal Virgins and the Pontifex Maximus participated. The goddess Opi was entrusted with the protection of the grain collected and stored in the barns and was represented with the cornucopia.

by M.L. ©ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (Ed 1.0 - 17/02/2020)

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