The Lars were worshipped daily in the Roman home, particular honors being paid them on the. Kalends, the Nones and the Ides, of the Roman month. Originally each house hold had only a single Lar; and the shrine, a small domestic chapel, sheltering an image of the good spirit, was kept in each home,— the Roman gave this shrine the name of lEdicula or Lararium. The image of the god was some times of stone, of wood, of metal, in the last case, sometimes even of silver.
In early times the Lar stood in the Atrium; but later, when the family hearth was removed, it was placed elsewhere in the Roman home. At home a Roman felt himself surrounded by invisible friends and guardians, and these sentiments found expression in festive gather ings, at which the Lararium was thrown wide open, and the exposed Lar garlanded about with flowers. Every morning a prayer was made to the idol, and at each meal offerings of food and of drink were set before him. Then a part of the offering was placed on the hearth and finally taken up and shaken into the flames. Whenever a son of the family assumed the toga virilis ; whenever the birthday of the head of the family recurred; whenever a new bride entered into the family circle; or whenever the festival of the Cariotta in memory of the de ceased was celebrated, on these and on the occasion of every other event of importance to a Roman family, special offering and sacri fice were made to the Lar. He (for, as the
Romans conceived this idol, he was an ani mated being) was on such occasions crowned with wreaths of flowers; cakes and honey, wine and incense, and swine,— all were laid before him. The worship of the Lares persisted throughout the Roman period, changing its character considerably as time went on; and its hold upon the Roman soul appears to have been such, that long after the inception of Christianity we hear of a Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, who numbered among his household gods, besides images of Alexander of Macedon, and Abraham, a figure, even the Lar of Jesus Christ. The Lar was represented variously. Sometimes as a youth, his head covered by a hat, with a traveler's stave in one hand, and accompanied by a dog. Again, we find the Lar figured as a youth: in short, high girt tunic (symbolic of readiness to serve) ; he holds a rhyton (drinking horn) in one hand and carries a (cup) in the other. Witness to domestic happiness or misfortune, the Lar hallowed every domestic occurrence; his presence rendering every Roman home, as it were, a sacred temple. No other nation,' remarks one student of comparative religion, "except the Chinese, have carried the religion of the home so far* as have the Romans in their worship of the Lares.